74 

















HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 



DELIVEEED AT WOECESTEE, 



OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE, 



SEPTEMBEE 22, 1863; 



The Huudredtli Anniversary of its Erection. 



BY LEONAED BACON", D. D. 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



WITH IXTKODUCTOKY REMARKS BY 

HON. lEA M. BAETON", 

THE PRESIDENT OX THE OCCASION. 







WORCESTER: 

PRINTED BY EDWARD R, FISKE. 

1863. 



•yI^'"' 



Worcester, Sept. 29, 1863. 
Rev. Leonard Bacox, D. D. 

Dear Sir, 
By the unanimous vote of the committee of arrangements for commemo- 
rating the' hundredth anniversary of the erection of the house of worship of 
the First Parish in Worcester, we have the honor to communicate to you their 
thanks for the valuable and interesting discourse delivered by you on that 
occasion, and to request a copy of the same for publication. 
We are, very truly and respectfully, 

Yours, &c. 

IRA M. BARTON, 
ALLEN HARRIS, 
CALEB DANA. 



New Haven, Oct. 19, 1863. 
Hex. Ira M. Rartox, Allen Harris, Esq., Caleb Dana, Esq. 

Gentlemen, — In compliance with your request, I now submit to your 
disposal a copy of the Discourse which was delivered at your late Centennial 
Celebration. Please to accept my grateful acknowledgement of your courte'sy 
and kindness. 

While I accepted as an honor the invitation to perform that service, I could 
not but be somewhat embarrassed by the consideration that I had no particular 
acquaintance with your local and parochial history. Your kindness relieved 
me of that embarrassment by providing that the details which are the special 
interest of such an occasion should be collected and narrated by one of your- 
selves, who has performed that service much better than I could have done. 
With this understanding I accepted your invitation, considering myself as in 
some sort a substitute for my young friend and late parishioner, your pastor, 
to whom such a duty so soon after his installation, might have been burdensome. 
May his ministry, beginning a new century in your venerable sanctuary, be 
commemorated with praise to God, when the second century shall be completed. 
Respectfully, Yours. 

LEONARD BACON. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 



BY 



HON. IRA M. BARTON 



Friends and Fellow Citizens: 

You are all aware, I presume, of tlie object of the ocoa. 
sion on which we have assembled. One hundred years have 
elapsed since the erection of the walls of this Church ; and 
the Parish worshipping here, have thought the event worthy 
of grateful commemoration. 

The Cfiurch was erected in 1763, by the inhabitants of 
Worcester, then acting in their municipal as well as parochial 
capacity ; and it w.is, thsrjfora, originally the property of 
the town. Bat after the inoarpDration of the Second Parish 
in 1787, the First Parish became the proprietors of the House 
as the legal successors of the town, and their records as a 
parish separate from those of the town, commenced Dec. 
24, 1787. 

At an adjournment of the annual meeting of the First 
Parish in the Spring of 1863, upon the recommendation of 
a committee that had been previously appointed to consider 
the matter, it was voted to commemorate the Centennial 
Anniversary of the building of their Church, and to appoint 



a committee of seventeen to make the necessary arrange- 
ments for the occasion. And this large gathering, not only 
of present and former members of their own parisli, but 
from other parishes in the city, is one of the results of their 
labors. 

The committee found, upon the authority of a memora::- 
dum left by the Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, the minister of the 
town, that the erection of their Church was commenced June 
21, 1763, and that it was so far finished that public religious 
services were held in it December 8, the same year, being 
the day of the annual Thanksgiving. It does not appear 
that the Church was ever formerly dedicated. A Thanjisgiv- 
ing and historical discourse was delivered by Mr. Maccarty 
on the occasion referred to, which it is a source of great 
regret, was not published, and is irrecoverably lost. 

Under these circumstances, the parish deemed it not ma- 
terial that the day for this commemoration, should coincide 
precisely with the day of the first occupancy of their Church. 
And the committee accordingly fixed upon this day, at this 
genial season of the year, as more agreeable, especially for 
our friends from abroad to visit us, than any day nearer the 
usual period of our annual Thanksgiving. 

As this Church was originally of a municipal character, 
and the property of the town, the committee thought that 
the occasion called for something more than a more parisli 
observance. They have therefore invited the attendance not 
only of members of their own parish that have gone out 
from them, but other prominent and ancient inhabitants of 
the town. As the representatives of the city, they have also 
invited the presence of the Mayor and his predecessors, and 
the Clergymen of the different religious communions. And 
as the organ of the committee, it is my agreeable duty to 



express to each and all of you on this occasion, their very 
sincere welcome and congratulations. 

I said that the walls of this House were erected in 1763. 
Those remain much as they were originally ; while the inte- 
rior has been renovated and fitted up with some of the dec- 
orations and conveniences demanded by more modern taste. 
The original interior construction of the House, is indicated 
by the diagram suspended from the centre of the east gal- 
lery, as copied by an ingenious member of the parish, from 
a folio leaf of the town records. This gallery, however, is 
a modern intruder. In the centre of the space now occupied 
by it, ^tood the spacious pulpit, and the ponderous sounding 
board suspended over it, while the galleries were confined 
to the other three sides of the House. 

From the pulpit extended the broad aisle to the ample 
and lofty porch upon the west side of the Church, fronting 
on the '■'■country road,'" now Main Street. This porch gave 
access to both, the floor of the House and the west gallery. 
And it was from its roof, as his rostrum, that Isaiah Thomas, 
on the 14th of July, 1776, proclaimed to the assembled 
people, the Declaration of Independence, after the document 
had made a laborious journey of ten days from the city of 
Philadelphia, where Congress was then sitting. 

There were also entrances to the floor and the galleries of 
the House, by way of another porch at the south, and the 
bell tower at the north end of it. 

The audience room upon the floor of the House was laid 
out into the large, square, social pews of the day, excepting 
seven free seats upon each side of the broad aisle, in front 
of the pulpit; those upon the right hand side, as they enter- 
ed the House, being appropriated for the men, and those 
upon the left, for the women. But the increasing demand 



8 

for new pews, afterwards usurped the place of all those 
seats except the two front ones. 

At the time of the erection of this Church in 1763, the 
Rev. Mr. Maccartv, the minister of the town, was in the 
prime of life, being about forty years of age. He Avas 
prominent amongst the provincial clergy, having been the 
successful rival of the Rev. Jonathan Mayhew, of Martha's 
Vineyard, afterwards the distinguished minister of the West 
Church in Boston. After having ministered to the united 
inhabitants of the town for thirty-seven years, he died July 
20, 1784, and was interred in the ancient burial place on the 
Common, near the Church where he so long labored. The 
town caused a handsome headstone to be erected at his 
grave, with an inscription since substantially transferred by 
one of his descendants,* with the approbation of the parish, 
to the mural tablet, upon the east side of the pulpit of this 
Church, where the successors of the people of his charge 
still worship. Higher evidence of his " peaceful Christian 
virtues," will not be sought by this community. 

The portrait of Mr. Maccarty, upon the opposite side of 
the pulpit has been kindly loaned for this occasion, by his 
great-grand-daughter, Mrs. Henry K. JSTewcomb. It indi- 
cates, strikingly, the clerical costume of his day, and is, 
probably, as good a likeness of the original, as the state of 
the arts in this country, at that period, could afford. 

The candelabra suspended upon either side of the pulpit, 
furnished also by Mrs. Newcomb, derive their interest from 
having been decorations of the ancient parsonage, and that 
the ornamental part of them, was the handy work of Mrs. 
Maccarty. Tradition testifies to her eminent piety and 



* Hon. Dwight Foster. 



virtue ; and we here have proof of her superior accomplish- 
ments for the age in which she lived. 

Time does not allow me even to name the prominent 
members of Mr. Maccarty's congregation. The names of 
the pew-holders appear on the diagram referred to, inscribed 
upon their respective pews. Conspicuous amongst these, was 
the pew of honor at the right hand of the pulpit, assigned 
to John Chandler, Esq., in recognition of the bequest of 
forty pounds to the town, by his father, Judge Chandler, to 
alleviate the taxes upon the poorer inhabitants, for building 
the Church. The whole sixty one pews were appraised, and 
the choice of them was offered to the people in the order of 
the amount of taxes paid by them upon their real estate, 
respectively, beginning with the highest. In that way, the 
proprietors of the pews probably became those who were 
then regarded as the solid men of Worcester. Several of 
them are noticed by William Lincoln, Esq., in his model his- 
tory of the town, while there are others, equally worthy of 
remembrance, respecting whom we diligently seek matei*ials 
for genealogical and personal history. Any such materials, 
derived from family records, well authenticated traditions or 
otherwise, if communicated to Deacon Allen Harris, the 
chairman of a committee appointed for that purpose, will 
be gratefully received and appropriately preserved. 

The Building Committee of the Church, chosen May 17, 
1762, embracing probably the more active business men of 
the town, were ; John Chandler, jr., Joshua Bigelow, Josiah 
Brewer, John Curtis, James Putnam, Daniel Boyden, James 
Goodwin, Jacob Hemenway, David Bigelow, Samuel Mower, 
and Elijah Smith. 

It has been ascertained by our respected fellow citizen. 
Dr. George Chandler, a collateral kinsman of the Chandler 



,y^; t)^^ 



. fgijif x^lH^t.,% 



10 

family, that Judge Cliandler, the first of the name in Wor- 
cester, died August 7, 1762. His son, John Chandler, jr., 
succeeded to both the civil and military offices of his father, 
and was described in the same manner upon both, the town 
and Probate records. Hence, to prevent confusion in refer- 
ing to those records, it becomes necessary to note the day of 
the death of the father, ascertained from his obituary in the 
Boston News Letter. 

Of the other members of the Building Committee, Joshua 
Bigelow was repeatedly a representative of the town in the 
Provincial Assembly. James Putnam was a distinguished 
lawyer, with whom the first President Adams read law while 
keeping school in Worcester, a few years before the erection 
of this Church. David Bigelow was an elder brother of 
Col. Timothy Bigelow, a member of the Provincial Con- 
gress, and, in 1779, the colleague of Levi Lincoln, sen., and 
Joseph Allen, as the delegate to the Convention for framing 
the Constitution of this Commonwealth. The Hon. George 
T. Bigelow, the present Chief Justice of our Supreme Ju- 
dicial Court, is a grandson of this David Bigelow. 

At the time of the election of the Building Committee, 
they were limited by the town to an expenditure of twelve 
hundred pounds ; and afterwards, at a meeting of the town, 
May 18, 1863, it was voted "that said committee hire a suit- 
able number of men to raise the new meeting house in the 
cheapest manner they can,' and that there be no public en- 
tertainment." The frugality and temperance of the town 
compare somewhat to the disadvantage of the parish, which, 
in 1790, at the installation of Rev. Dr. Austin, expended 
ten pounds seven shillings and sixpence, and that for articles 
which it would be unseemly to name in this presence. 

Such was tliis House, and such some of the worshippers in 



11 

it, one linndred years ago. A further notice of them, with 
their contemporaries, would constitute a service interesting 
to the present and future generations of this city. 

The first alteration in the interior of this House, was made 
hy the town in 1783. Two of the back free seats of the 
men, upon the right hand side of the broad aisle, and the 
two corresponding seats for the women on the side opposite, 
were taken out, and four new pews erected in their place. 
They were erected under the supervision of Timothy Paine, 
Joseph Allen, and Joseph Wheeler, Esq'rs, as a committee 
appointed by the town for that purpose. This was regarded 
as a matter of so much importance, that the pews were sold, 
in presence of the town, at a largely enhanced price ; the 
two upon the women's, or left hand side of the broad aisle, 
to Daniel Waldo, sen., and Isaiah Thomas ; and the two 
upon the men's side opposite, to Dr. Elijah Dix and Nathan 
Patch. Subsequently, in 1805, the parish removed eight 
more of the free seats, giving place for eight additional 
pewSy and leaving two free seats in front for aged people. 
Benjamin Heywood, Samuel Flagg and Oliver Fiske, Esq'rs, 
were appointed to erect and make sale of these pews. They 
appear to have been sold to John Green, Ephraim Mower, 
Daniel Denny, John Mower, Samuel Harrington, Edward 
Knight, Oliver Fiske and Moses Perry, for the aggregate 
sum of $946 ; indicating that, at that period, the meeting- 
house stock was in good demancT. 

But the more radical change in the internal arrangement 
of the House, was reserved until the year 1828. The sixty- 
one ancient pews then all gave place to the ninety-two 
modern slijjs on the floor, and forty two in the galleries, as 
we now find them. The ancient pulpit and sounding board, 
with its pendant dove and olive branch over the minister's 



12 

head, all disappeared ; tlie eastern gallery was constructed, 
and the modern pulpit found its i)lace at the north end of 
the audience room. The porch upon the west side of the 
House was at the same time removed, and wings being placed 
on each side of the bell tower, gave to the structure a come- 
ly northern, instead of the former western front. 

in 1834 the parish applied to the town for permission to 
erect a Chapel, or Vestry, as it was called, on the Common, 
at the south end of their Church. The inhabitants of the 
town, with the better judgment, refused such permission, 
but granted leave to the parish to extend the whole body of 
their Church, twenty five feet to the south, thus making its 
entire dimensions ninety-five by fifty-five feet. This addi_ 
tion was made the following year, involving the destruction 
of the ancient porch at the south end of the Church, and 
afibrding space for a Chapel on the upper floor, and an 
ample vestibule below, without interfering with the audience 
room or galleries. 

In 1846, the parish fitted up the vestibule below for their 
Chapel ; moved back, in a semi-circular form, the south 
gallery, from over the rear pews in the audience room, and 
erected the organ loft upon the floor that had before been 
occupied as the Chapel, with a convenient committee room 
or study upon the east side of it. Thus arranged, we find 
our Church at this commencement of the second century of 
its existence. 

In the summer of 1846, Mr. Appleton of Boston put up 
one of his best instruments in the organ loft, at the cost of 
three thousand dollars. It was in part procured by the 
subscription of individuals ; but their interest was afterwards 
surrendered to the parish, which is now the sole owner of 
it. 



I hardly need say, that these particulars as to the material 
history of our venerahle Church, are more for the informa- 
tion of the generations that are to succeed us, than for any 
special interest they may possess for the present one. 

The situation of the immediate surroundings of this 
Church in 1763, when it was erected, is worth noting. 

In the first place, then, we must annihilate our pleasant 
Central Park, with its enclosure, and reduce it to a hald 
Common or training field, for which it appears to have been 
originally dedicated by the proprietors of the town. 

We must next demolish our spacious City Hall, and give the 
Church an unobstructed northern prospect down the sparse- 
ly settled Main Street, which was bounded on the north by 
the ancient Court House, occupying nearly the same site 
with the present Court Houses on Court Hill. 

To the east of the Church was the Common, with the 
burying ground upon the east side of it. That ground was 
generally used for the purpose of burials from about 1730 
to 1795, when the town procured the burial ground on Me- 
chanic Street. Some notice of the disposition that has been 
made of this ancient ground on the Common, is perhaps 
due to those having friends interred there. At an early 
period, a heavy stone wall had been laid around this ground, 
separating it from the Common. This might, indeed, serve 
as a protection of the ground against desecration from with- 
out, but it was found also to serve as a concealment of all 
manner of desecration from within ; and after the ground 
ceased to be used for burials, it became unsightly and offen- 
sive. The wall was removed ; and after the organization of 
the City Government in 1848, it was proposed to remove 
the bodies to the new rural Cen eterv and to level the ground 



. 14 

where they had been originally interred. The public feeling 
revolted at that idea, and, by the influence of gentlemen 
whom I now see before me, the project was defeated. 

The City Government then adopted the plan of making a 
perfect survey of the ground, by placing permanent stone 
monuments just below the surface, and taking the bearing 
and distance from such monuments to each grave having a 
head stone. The headstones were then carefully taken up 
and placed over the graves, about one foot below the surface 
of the ground. The graves were numbered, and a plan of 
the ground made, indicating the precise position of each 
grave, accompanied by an index of the numbers and a copy 
of the respective epitaphs. An}'" person desirous of remov- 
ing the remains of a friend, (an act of questionable good 
taste,) may thus ascertain its position with mathematical cer- 
tainty, and accom|)lish his pious purpose. The survey was 
made in 1853, by Gill Valentine, Esq. ; and the plan, with 
an earlier and fuller copy of the epitaphs, published by a 
young gentleman* of this city, of antiquarian taste, is pre- 
served with the archives of the city. Pleasant varieties of 
our native forest trees were set out in the intervals between 
the graves, and the ground, from a repulsive, has become 
one of the most quiet and inviting spots in the city. The 
massive and elegant monument recently erected over the 
grave of Col. Timothy Bigelow, will forever identify the 
spot as the ancient burial place on the Common. It is per- 
haps further due to the memory of those that repose there, 
that a substantial Cenotaph should be erected near the 
centre of the ground, with the names of the heads of the 
families inscribed upon it. 



*Wm. Sumuer Barton, Esq., in 1848. 



15 

IJpon the south side of the Common, near the present 
junction of Park and Porthxnd streets, was the parsonage of 
the Rev. Mr. Maccarty. 

Upon the west front of the Church was the country road 
ah'eady referred to. Upon the opposite side of the road, the 
grounds were all vacant, except the Chandler house, or as it 
was afterwards known, the Bush house. That is entitled to 
the distinction of being coeval with this Church. It was 
noticed by the Rev. Dr. Dwight, in his travels through !N'ew 
England nearly seventy years ago, as " the house erected by 
the late Gardner Chandler, Esquire, and one of the hand- 
somest he had met with in the interior of the country ;" the 
Dr. thus giving a graphic and probably correct idea of the 
state of rural architecture at that period, by reference to a 
structure now quite thrown into the shade by the palatial 
residences upon either side of it. The antiquity of that 
structure is deduced not only from tradition and the style of 
its architecture, but from the testimony of the late Judge 
Nathaniel Paine, who, if now living, would be somewhat 
more than a hundred years old. In the many pleasant con- 
versations had with the Judge, after he left the Probate Of- 
fice in 1836, I once asked him for the history of the Chand- 
ler house. He premised that " he married his wife from 
that house ; that the main part of it and the north wing 
were erected before the revolution ; that the plan was to add 
a south wing corresponding with the north, but the troubles 
preceding the revolution broke out, and the latter part of 
the plan was abandoned." Those troubles, it is well known, 
commenced with the Stamp Act, which was passed in 1765, 
but two years after the erection of this Church ; leading to 
the satisfactory conclusion that the Chandler house and this 
Church had a contemporaneous origin.* 

*At the present time, 1SC3, Judge Barton is the occupant of this house. 



16 

Those ancient landmarks, the sycamore trees in front of 
the Chandler house and the estate of the Hon. Isaac Davis, 
opposite the Church, are perhaps worthy of passing notice. 
They were transplanted from the valley of the Blackstone 
river, where the sycamore is a natural growth. Having 
learned the agreeable associations the venerable Judge must 
have with those trees, to enable me to answer the constant 
enquiries made respecting their age, I asked him to inform 
me when they were set out ? With a quickness and naivete, 
which those will appreciate who recollect the Judge, he re- 
plied, "I can't tell; — I can remember when the trees were 
smaller than they are now." This was said in 1836, by a 
man then eighty years of age, and justifies the conclusion 
that those trees too must be the contemporaries, if not the 
antecedents, of this Church. 

It would be a pleasant exercise for the imagination to fol- 
low out the more remote surroundings of this Church, as 
they existed a hundred years ago. But this is not the time 
nor the occasion for such a purpose. It is sufficient to say, 
that almost everything of an artificial origin, is changed. 
From the fourth or fifth agricultural town in this county, 
Worcester has become the third city of the State, rejoicing 
in a population of about thirty thousand. Our gracefully 
rounded hills, or as Dr. Dwight more graphically described 
them, "hills moulded into a great variety and beauty of 
forms," noticed by strangers as the physical feature of our 
city, still remain ; but instead of the native forest, crowned 
with the decorations with which the agriculturist and archi- 
tect have invested them. 

On the south we still have the Blackstone and its tributa- 
ries ; but instead of flowing sluggishly along through their 
native forests, cultivation has reached their banks, and, at 



the least fall, their waters are disturbed by the wheels of the 
mechanic and the manufacturer. 

On the east there meets the eye a most beautiful object 
that remains as it was, and will remain forever. And if, 
amidst all the changes in our territory, a question should 
ever arise as to the identity of the location of the ancient 
and the modern Worcester, I can imagine no way by which 
that question could be so readily settled, as by reference to 
our Lake Quinsigamond and this ancient Church. 

As the erection and first occupancy of this Church was sig- 
r.alized by a thanksgiving and historical discourse from the 
Rev. Mr. Maccarty, the committee of arrangements thought 
that its preservation for a centur}^, under circumstances of 
so much favor, should be gratefully noticed in much the 
same manner. At the time the arrangements for this occa- 
sion were first made, the pulpit of the parish was vacant ; 
since ha4:)pily supplied by the installation of the Rev. Ed- 
ward .\. Walker, from New Haven. And in seeking for a 
gentleman to address us on this occasion, and while inviting 
home the pilgrims from this Church, you will think it was 
befitting that we should invite to the service a distinguished 
successor of those Massachusetts pilgrims, who aforetime 
Wi.nderel by the " Connecticut path," over our pleasant hills, 
on their way to the Connecticut. And I have the pleasure 
to announce that a discourse may be expected from the Rev. 
I eonard Bacon, D. D., of i^ew Haven. 

The religious services of the occasion will take place, 
under the direction of the Rev. Mr. Walker. 



HISTOEICAL DISCOURSE, 



BY THE 



EEV. LEONARD BACON, D. D. 



A hundred years ago, tlie people of "Worcester, in the ex- 
ercise of their municipal powers, were building a house for 
the worship of God. The structure "began to be erected " 
on the 21st day of June, and it was occupied by the congre- 
gation on the 8th of December, " the day of public thanks- 
giving throughout the province." In that house we are as- 
sembled, at the invitation of its present proprietors, to recall 
that year 1763, to compare it with this year 1863, and so to 
realize the difference between tlie world in which we are 
living and the world as it was a hundred years ago. 

Some things remain unchanged. " One generation pass- 
etli away, and another generation cometh, but the earth 
abideth forever." Through all that century of years, nature 
has moved in circles without progress. Year by year the 
seasons have kept their order ; and the vicissitudes of our 
New England climate, vibrating from almost Arctic cold to 
almost tropical heat, are just what they were in the year 
1763. A hundred times has winter covered the streams and 



20 

lakes witli massive crystal, and spread the marvellous beauty 
of the snow over field and forest, vale and hillside. A 
hundred times the snows and ice have melted in the breath 
of spring, and vegetation has renewed itself in verdure 
and bloom. A hundred times the sultry summer has 
brooded over the hills and wai-med the deepest valleys. A 
hundred times has summer ripened into autumn, and then 

"The inLlancLoly days have come, the saddest of the yeir, 

Of wailing winds, and naked woods, and meadows brown and sere." 

yet ever cheerful with the garnered harvest and t'n f' ;t 
of the iijgath^ring. The sun that shone upon our fathers' 
fathers shines upon their graves, and pours on us from the 
same deep sky the same exliaustless flood of warmth and 
splendor. The new moon, w^axing night by night to com- 
plete its silver round, and the full moon waning till it dis- 
appears behind the sunrise, are the same as when the 
workmen on the Worcester meeting-house, a hundred years 
ago, measured the months from June to December. K'ature, 
in its countless cycles, makes no progress. In its perpetual 
changes it is perpetually reproducing itself. Its mutability 
is the steady operation of immutable forces. The record 
of the rocks, confirming the testimony of the most ancient 
revelation, testifies indeed that, from one geological period 
to another, creation w^as progressive ; but nature cannot 
create. Since the Creator rested from his work and saw 
that all was good — since man stood upright on the earth, 
the image of his Maker — progress belongs to the history 
of man and of God's dealings with mankind. IS'ature 
to-day, is just what nature has been ever since the creation 
was completed. " The sun ariseth, and the sun goeth down 
and hasteth to his place where he arose. The w^ind goeth 



21 

toward the south, and tiirneth about unto the north ; it 
whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again 
according to his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea ; 
yet the sea is not full ; unto the place from whence the 
rivers come, thither they return again." " The thing that 
hath been, is that which shall be, and that which is done 
is that which shall be done, and there is no new thing under 
the sun." In the sciences of nature, and in the applications 
and uses of physical science, there is progress — for science 
is human and enters into human history ; but the facts of 
nature are as old as the creation. The nature even of man 
remains unchanged through all human generations ; but 
history is the record of something else than the mere going 
on of nature, and therefore it is that historj'- never repro- 
duces itself. In proportion as man, by that proclivity to 
barbarism which came with the primal apostacy of the race, 
is brought down to the level of mere nature, and is governed 
like inferior animals by nothing else than natural laws 
and impulses, history becomes impossible ; for each suc- 
cessive year and each successive generation repeats its 
predecessor. History concerns itself not with the uni- 
formity and necessary laws of human nature, but with 
events that spring from man's intelligence and voluntary 
power, with the ever-changing condition of man in this 
world, with the diversified influences which act on human 
character and human welfare, with the vicissitudes of the 
ceaseless conflict between good and evil, with the growing 
dominion of man over the powers and resources of nature, 
with the moral and religious ideas and the political institu- 
tions which elevate or depress nations ; and the basis of its 
unity, the essential dignity which makes it differ from a record 
of the weather, must be found in the fact that, consciously 



00 



or unconsciously, it records the development, from age 
to age, of God's august providence over the human race, 
and of his work of making all things new. 

What sort of people were thc}^ who assembled under this 
roof on the 8th of December, a hundred years ago ? They 
spoke our English language ; they read our English Bible ; 
they worshipped in the name of Christ ; they held a system 
of religious doctrines essentially the same with the system 
held by those who now worship in their places ; the congre- 
gation of 1863 maintains its identity with the congrega- 
tion of 1763. But they prayed, and read, and spoke with 
phrases and pronunciations which are now antiquated, and 
which could hardly be repeated without provoking a smile. 
They dressed according to their means and their several 
stations in society, like decent and christian people — at 
least they thought so ; but if we could see them to-day, 
just as they were apparelled that day — the men Avith 
breeches and cocked hats, some with great white wigs, 
some with clubbed hair, some with pig-tails — the women 
with many grotesque deviations from the fashionable cos- 
tume of our day — the sight would be to us astonishing. 
The most well dressed gentleman in the congregation, or 
the most fashionably attired lady, would hardly be present- 
able anywhere but at a fancy dress party, and even there 
would be greeted with laughter; just as that thanksgiving 
congregation a hundred years ago, would have been over- 
whelmed with wonder, and would have lost their go-to- 
meeting gravity, if by some second sight they could have 
caught a view of this assembly dressed in the fashions of 
to-day. They came to meeting, some walking in family 
I processions from one house and another along the village 
street^ others on horseback from the farms — many a wife 



23 

riding behind her husband on the pillion, many a damsel 
behind her father or her brother, probably none in any 
wheeled carriage other than a farmer's wagon. They met 
for their Thanksgiving at the call of a proclamation which 
ended with, " God save the King." In their public worship 
prayers were offered for' the King and Queen and royal 
family. Their singing was in tunes which with rare excep- 
tions are now long obsolete, and was performed without the 
aid of organ, flute or viol. The sermons to which they 
ordinarily listened, were in length, in style, and to some 
extent in matter, such as would be tedious to a congregation 
in these days. The most superficial view suflSces to make 
us feel that, for better or for worse, there have been great 
changes in the world since this " Old South Church," as it 
is now called, was the new meeting house in Worcester. 
Three generations have passed, and where are we ? 

These superficial views, then, lead us to graver thoughts. 
Let us remember more deliberately some of the great 
changes in which the century has marked its progress. In 
so doing, it is necessary for us to think first of the contrast 
between now and then in the political conditions and rela- 
tions of our country ; for the political history of a country 
is the frame in which local history, and all the history of 
opinions, of morals, and of religion must be set, in order to 
be seen aright. 

Our ancestors on this continent had a country of their 
own from the date of their migration hither. As soon as 
they had put the breadth of the Atlantic between themselves 
and their ancestral island, they felt that this was their 
country. The feeling grew when the first tree of the 
primeval forest fell before them — when in their first dwell- 
ings they established their domestic- altars — when first their 



24 

ploughshare furrowed the soil — when first their harvests 
ripened in the sultry air. The feeling that they had acquir- 
ed a country of their own, became more tenacious at every 
stage of progress in the formation of their civil institutions. 
It o;ained new streno-th and distinctness from everv session 
of a court, from every new precedent in the administration 
of justice, from every act of legislation. When they made 
their arrangements for puhlic worship — when they met in 
their Sabbath assemblies — when they began to see in 
each settlement the meeting-house rising in modest dig- 
nity among their homes — the feeling that they had ob- 
tained a new country, was more and more hallowed by 
religion. Every birth, every wedding, every sod upon a 
new grave, added to the sanctity of the feeling. They 
recognized the tie of a common allegiance which bound 
them to their kindred in the mother country ; they claimed 
the name of Englishmen, and acknowledged the king of 
England as their king ; but from the day in which AVinthrop 
and his fleet sailed westward — nay even from that earlier 
day in which the pilgrim church at Leyden planned its 
sublime enterprise — they never admitted the thought that 
their l^ew England was to be merely an extension of Old 
England, or was to be colonized and governed in the 
interest merely of the English people. From the first they 
regarded this as a distinct country to which they had trans- 
ferred their citizenship. Under their charters from their 
king, or without reference to any charter, they claimed and 
exercised the right of self-government as political communi- 
ties. The aspiration for a complete and distinct nationality 
was inseparable from the design of their migration hither. 
At the same time they recognized willingly their colonial 
relation to the country fi-om which they came. They were 



25 

Englisli, and their new country was New England. Old 
England — not Great Britain, but England only — was the 
native seat of their language and their race. Their country 
was not only included, like Scotland and Ireland, among 
the dominions of the English king, but was more intimately 
related to England than to any other of his kingdoms — 
though they never regarded it as subject to the legislation 
of the English Parliament. 

One incident of their relation to their acknowledged 
sovereign was that they were involved in all the wars of 
England, and especially in the frequent wars between Eng- 
land and France. There was not only a New England on 
this side of the Atlantic, but a New France, also, which was 
intended to become a colossal Gallic empire in America. 
Between England and France there was a constant rivalry 
for dominion on this continent. In four successive wars 
during a period of about seventy years, our fathers were 
made to feel their dependence on their king and on his 
British subjects for protection against the power of France. 
The last of these inter-colonial wars ended in the treaty of 
Paris, which was signed on the 10th of February, 1763, and 
which extinguished all the pretensions of France to any 
territorial possessions on the continent of North America. 
It is not easy to conceive 'with what joy that treaty was 
received in all the English colonies, and most of all in New 
England, which had suffered most and longest from the 
proximity of the French power in Canada. For a hundred 
and fifty years it had been a question, often debated in war 
as well as in the conflicts of diplomacy and the councils of 
ambitious statesmanship, whether these vast regions of the 
temperate zone in North America should be French or 
English in language, in the genius of their civil institutions, 



26 

and in religion. For more than half that period every 
Indian outbreak on the frontier, every savage atrocity of 
rapine and slaughter, had been imputed, whether justly 
or unjustly, to the influence, direct or indirect, of French 
traders, French emissaries, or French Jesuits. Through 
more than the life time of two generations the growth of 
the colonies in territorial expansion, in wealth, in popula- 
tion, in all civilized and civilizing arts, had been hindered 
by a series of exhausting wars, in which the sacrifices of 
treasure and of blood were far more disproportioned to the 
resources of our fathers, than all the sacrifices demanded in 
the present conflict are to ours. "When the Treaty of Paris, 
signed and ratified, was duly published in America, the joy 
was universal. Never in our history had so terrible a con- 
flict been brought to a termination so triumphant. A new 
era of peace and progress had opened. Ko wonder that 
immediately after the proclamation of that peace, the people 
of Worcester felt themselves able to build a new and stately 
house for the worship of God. 

That year 1763 is a cardinal year in the annals of our 
countiy. Indeed, our national independence might be re- 
garded as taking its origin from the Treaty of Paris. The 
people of these colonies were thenceforth no longer depend- 
ent on their king for protection- against their ancient and 
most formidable enemies ; by their own valor, and by the 
voluntary and lavish use of their own resources in their own 
defence, they had contributed largely to the extension of his 
dominions ; they had measured and improved their own 
military qualities and capabilities by comparison and co- 
operation with British regulars; and for these reasons they 
were more able and not less ready than at any former period 
to assert their hereditary rights against all attempted en- 



27 

croacliment fi'om tlie mother country. Doubtless they had 
no expectation of any early conflict with Great Britain on 
the question of their rights, for just at that time the feeling 
of loyalty toward their king, combined with the feeling of 
a fraternal relation to the English people, was naturally 
stronger and more general throughout New England than 
ever before. But while the extinction of the French colo- 
nial power had lessened the dependence of the colonies on 
Great Britain, it had also inspired the British government 
and the ruling and trading classes of the British people 
with exaggerated expectations of dominion in America. 
Immediately after the conquest of Canada, and even before 
that conquest had been confirmed by treaty, a formidable 
scheme for bringing these colonies under the legislative 
power of the British Parliament began to be unfolded^ 
In the third year after the Treaty of Paris, the passage of 
the Stamp Act through the forms of legislation at West- 
minster roused the continent to a determined purpose of 
resistance, and called into being a Congress of the colonies. 
In the twelfth year of the same era, a second Congress 
uttered in behalf of the colonies a solemn and unanimous 
declaration of their rights, and assumed, as the representa- 
tive body of the American people, the function of address- 
ing the king and the people of Great Britain with words 
of free and bold remonstrance. One year later, the contro- 
versy became a war ; blood was shed at Lexington, at Con- 
cord, and at Bunker Hill ; the Continental Congress created 
a continental army ; and George "Washington was Com- 
mander-in-chief. In the fourteenth year, the Congress of 
"The United Colonies " declared the dissolution of the tie 
that had connected these colonies with the mother country, 
and with a faithless king ; the Declaration of Independence 



was given to the world ; and the thirteen stripes, with the 
" new constellation " in its azure field, became the banner of 
the Union. Just at the close of the fifteenth year, France 
publicly recognized the indejjendence of the new republic ; 
and as if in vengeance for the loss of the hopes that had been 
extinguished by the treaty of 1763, that powerful nation 
entered into an intimate alliance with the revolted colonies 
of her ancient enemy. Before the twentieth year had been 
completed, the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, and those 
of the United States, subscribed at Paris a treaty of peace, 
establishing the independence of this nation. Six years 
afterwards, in the twenty-seventh year of the era which 
began in 1763, the Federal Constitution, that marvel of 
political wisdom, had been framed and ratified; and the 
Colonel Washington of "the old French war " was inaugu- 
rated the first President of the United States of America. 
In the fortieth year (1802), the empire of the new republic, 
originally bounded by the Mississippi on the West, while a 
foreign power held and controlled the mouth of that great 
river, was enlarged by a peaceful acquisition, which gave us 
the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean for our western 
limit, and established the power of the Union, without a 
rival or a partner, over the "father of waters " from his icy , 
head-springs on the border of the frozen zone to his outlet 
in the climate of perpetual flowers. At the close of the first 
half centur}^ from 1763, those former colonies to which the 
treaty of Paris had unconsciously secured a virtual indepen- 
dence, were in the midst of a second war with Great Britain, 
a war provoked by the insolent aggressions of that power on 
the rio-hts of neutrals and the freedom of the seas. I need 
not remind you of more recent events in our political his- 
tory ; nor of the territorial acquisitions by which our empire 



29 

has been extended over a wider area than the Roman eagles 
ever traversed. Yet, as we recollect to-day what Worcester 
was, and where it was, when, in the impulse of hope and 
enterprise, which went through New England from the con- 
quest of Canada, the timbers of this house were framed and 
raised, a hundred years ago — as we think what New Eng- 
land was, and what America was when first the people met 
for praise beneath this roof — we cannot but be awed at the 
strides with which the world's history has been marching, 
and especially at the j^rogress of history as- related to our 
own country. Nor is there any halt in that majestic march. 
What may have seemed to some the portents of utter failure 
and dissolution, are to a wiser faith the signs of progress. 
Our country, ever since it began the conflict for its indepen- 
dence, and even from an earlier period, has carried, as if in 
its vitals, a perilous disease. With that disease the vigor of 
its life has struggled, and we to-day are at the crisis. A 
civil war 'more stupendous in its proportions than any that 
the world has ever seen before — a war in which the art of 
war has armed itself with new enginery of destruction and 
of defense — a war which, without involving any other 
nation, disturbs the commerce, the industry, and the politi- 
cal hopes and fears of the civilized world — is the crisis of 
that long disease. Nay, if the crisis has been doubtful, the 
doubt is passing by. The vigor of our national life has van- 
quished the disease, and slavery, so long our national infirm- 
ity and shame, is passing away forever. ■ / ---^ 
The thought of this great war upon oiw soil, and of the 
changes which it has developed in the art of enginery of war, 
leads naturally to another topic illustrative of the diiference 
between the world in which we are living, and the world as 
it was when this house was set on its foundations. Let us 



30 

think of tlie contrast between then and now, in respect to 
the dominion of man over the riches and forces of nature. 
It is a maxim of the religion for which this house was built, 
that man as created in the image of God, was created for 
dominion over the material world, and was charged not only 
to replenish the earth, but to subdue it. Xor does the Chris- 
tianity of Kew England, the religious faith in which God is 
worshipped here, refuse to acknowledge, that in the con- 
summation of that renewing work for which God came into 
the world in the person of his Son, the idea of man's rightful 
dominion over this visible world, with all its riches and all 
its capabilities of ministering to human welfare, will be com- 
pletely realized. In this respect the century, since 1763, is 
distinguished above every other century on the roll of his- 
tory. 

Some deliberate recollection will be necessary before we 
can comprehend how slow had been, through all preceding 
ages, the progress of man's dominion over nature. Certain 
inventions essential to civilization are, of course, older than 
the dawn of history — such as the art of writing, the art of 
making cloth from wool and from certain vegetable fibres, 
the use and fabrication of metals, including the reduction of 
them from their ores, and the art of navigation in its earliest 
rudiments. Certain tools are older than history — such as 
the axe, the plough, and the spindle; and certain mechanical 
powers — such as the lever and the screw. Other inven- 
tions, less ancient, are yet so old that their date cannot be 
ascertained — such as the pump, and the simple machinery 
by which the power of falling water, or of the wind, was 
applied +o the work of turning a millstone for grinding corn, 
and far older than either, yet later than the flood, the art of 
making glass. Eut how slow had been the progress of inven- 



31 

tion tliroiigli all the ages of ancient civilization ! How slow 
the progress of knowledge ! and especially of the application 
of knowledge to practical usesj for the common welfare of 
mankind ! The ancient civilization which fell in the fall of 
the Roman empire, was more inventive of luxuries for the 
few, than of conveniences and comforts for the many. In 
its tools and implements of lahor, and especially in its con- 
trivances to increase the productiveness of human labor, by 
subsidizing the forces of nature, it was poor. It could build, 
in its imperial magnificence, temples, palaces, aqueducts, 
which are even at this day the wonder of the world. Its 
sculpture too was such as modern art admires and imitates, 
with hardly a hope of equaling it. But it had no contri- 
vances to facilitate the processes and aid the efficiency of 
labor, to cheapen and multiply the ordinaiy comforts of life^ 
or to cheer and adorn the homes of the lowly. The new civi- 
lization which slowly arose from the ruins of the old, began 
with no new inventions, and no new subjugation of nature 
to the service of man. But in that new civilization there 
was a new force, derived from the fresh vigor of the northern 
races who had conquered the Roman power, and were learn- 
ing to appropriate the arts as well as the riches of the empire 
they had conquered. The Christian religion, modified in- 
deed, and deformed with superstition, yet not wholly neu- 
tralized by the mixture of error, was working like leaven 
among the nations that had received it with their conquests ; 
and thus the new civilization began to be, in distinction from 
the old, a Christian civilization. 

Yet it is only within the last hundred years, that the dis- 
tinctive character of the Christian civilization, as related to 
the physical condition of mankind, has been clearly devel- 
oped. When the first worshipping assembly was gathered 



32 

in this house, the age of those inventions which characterize 
our civilization, had not yet begun to dawn. The progress 
of knowledge and of art, since the downfall of the Roman 
empire, had contributed only a few inventions to alleviate 
the burthen of human labor, to multiply the comforts of 
human life, and to extend and establish man's dominion 
over nature. What were the chief of those inventions in 
more than a thousand years of history ? The invention of 
gunpowder had given to mankind a new force, not only for 
destruction, but for a thousand peaceful uses. The inven- 
tion of clocks and watches had been substituted for the more 
awkward methods by which the ancients measured and 
marked the divisions of the day, and had contributed to the 
advancement both of astronomical science and of the art 
of navigation, while at the same time it had been ma- 
king men feel the value of the hours and the virtue of 
punctuality. The invention of the telescope had given a 
new character to astronomy and a new impulse to all science. 
The mariner's compass had made it possible for ships to 
strike out boldly into unknown seas, to discover unknown 
lands, to sail around the globe, and by giving an indefinite 
enlargement to commerce, had contributed indefinitely to 
the riches of the world. "When this house was built, the art 
of printing, without any material improvement since the age 
of Guttenburg, had been slowly demonstrating, for about 
three hundred years, the possibility of a universal diftusion 
of knowledge. The physical sciences, as inaugurated by the 
author of the Novmn organum, had hardly begun to yield 
their fruits in practical contributions to the uses of human 
life ; and science and industry had not yet learned their 
legitimate relations to each other. The world had not yet 
found out, what is now so widely understood, that in the 



33 

sciences of nature every discover}^ has its use in some prac- 
tical invention. 

But liow rapid lias been the progress of discovery and 
invention since this house first received under its roof a 
-worshipping assembly. At that very time Arkwright, in 
England, was toiling to perfect his spinning machine, which 
four years afterwards became successful, and begun to be a 
power in the productive industry of England. The inven- 
tion of the steam engine having been long in progress, be- 
came a fact in 1765 ; but what the steam engine was to do 
in the world — to what infinitely diversified uses it would l)e 
applied — not even the genius of Watt, the final inventor, 
could have conjectured. In 1783, John Fitch, of Connecti- 
cut, exhibited an abortive steamboat on the Delaware, at 
Philadelphia ; but it was not till 1807, that Robert Fulton, 
of Pennsylvania, after many years of toilsome and baffled 
endeavor, succeeded in converting the dream into a reality, 
and launched upon the Hudson a vessel, which was actually 
propelled by the steam engine, and which stemmed the cur- 
rent from New York to Albany in thirty-three hours ; t 
if any man even then had predicted the results of that inven- 
tion as they exist to-day, he would have seemed insane to 
men of common sense. A hundred years ago, Franklin had 
already made the discover}^ [1750] which identified the elec- 
tric spark with the lightning, and had applied it in his inven- 
tion of the lightning-rod ; but what else was soon to be dis- 
covered in the same direction, what other identities then 
unsuspected would soon be brought to light, and what results 
were to come of such discoveries, none could dream. A 
hundred years ago the nations of Eastern Asia had been 
clothed through immemorial ages in cotton fabricated by 
the simplest processes of manual labor ; and cotton, indige- 



M 

110118 also on this continent, was beginning to be manufac- 
tured by similar processes in Europe ; but the material 
whether imported from India or from America, was too 
costly for universal use. Two 3'ears later, Eli Whitney was 
born in a neighboring town, almost within the sound of the 
"Worcester meeting-house bell ; and he, at the age of twenty- 
seven [1798], invented the machine which separates the fibre 
of cotton from the seeds. But little did he then dream of 
the results which were to come from his cotton-gin. 'No 
human mind could have conjectured, sixty-five years ago, 
that in consequence of that invention, taken in connection 
with others, cotton would become a power in commerce, in 
politics, in the counsels of diplomacy, in literature, in morals, 
and even in religion — would be proclaimed a king — would 
even be worshipped as a god sitting in the temple of God — • 
would domineer with growing insolence, till at last, in the 
height of its power, it should fall as other tyrants fall, and, 
instead of defying God and man with its impiet}', should 
thenceforth be counted among the humblest of God's crea- 
tures, and should minister with due tractableness to the 
universal welfare of mankind. The plant which in conse- 
quence of Whitney's invention has been for a time the great 
support of slavery in its cruelties and its insolence, is now 
becoming, in the farther development of consequences from 
the same invention, a powerful auxiliary of liberty and of 
the world's progress. Having gained its dominion by be- 
coming a necessity of the civilized world, it is losing that 
dominion to-day, for the very reason that the civilized world 
cannot be without it, and will not be enslaved by it. The 
demand for it in the markets of the world is even now begin- 
ning to work for the opening of Africa to a new and civiliz- 
ing commerce, for the development of new industry and of 



a better civilization in India, for the establishment of new 
commercial relations and mutual dependencies throughout 
the globe. As the first century, since 1763, has demonstrated 
the power of cotton and slavery, so the coming century is to 
show the power of cotton and liberty ; for liberty at last has 
snatched that mighty instrument from the grasp of slavery. 

Other illustrations of what the century has contributed to 
the progress of the civilizing arts, and of man's dominion 
over nature, crowd upon us. Think how much successive 
inventions have done, within the last hundred years, for the 
art of printing. Think how the art, which for more than 
three hundred years after the date of its invention, made no 
considerable progress, has found new methods and new 
enginery, till it is now multiplying and cheapening books 
beyond all calculation, inundating the world with periodical 
issues of innumerable sorts, and making the newspaper, 
with its assorted and accumulated intelligence from all quar- 
ters of the globe, a daily visitant in millions of families. 
The science of chemistry had not been born in 1763. Twenty 
years later, a few experimenters in France and England, and 
in some other countries, were just beginning to be successful 
in their exploration of mysteries which had formerly been 
left in the keeping of quacks and jugglers. But what con- 
tributions has chemistry made since then, to the world's 
riches, and to the resources and results of industry ? "VNTiat 
has it done for agriculture and for the manufacturing arts, 
multiplying and diversifying the products and increasing 
the facilities of labor. One single achievement of chemistry 
— now so familiar to us that it has ceased to be a wonder — 
would not have been credited if predicted a hundred years 
ago, unless the prediction had been attested by a miracle : — 
Almost all the cities of the civilized world and in our own 



36 

country how many villages and even isolated dwellings, are 
illuminated at night by a method which in former ages 
would have seemed more marvellous than magic. Sub- 
stances have been utilized, and have become great staples of 
commerce and manufacture, which, a few years ago were 
worthless. The India-rubber gum, now applied to innumer- 
able uses, and recognized as necessary in a thousand ways 
to human comfort, had grown, and exuded, and slowly 
decayed in tropical forests, ever since the creation of the 
world ; and nobody had known what it was good for. But 
Charles Goodyear, of Connecticut, about thirty years ago, 
devoutly believing that God had not made such a substance 
in such quantities for nothing, humbly resolved that, God 
helping him, he would find out what it was made for ; and 
then with the enthusiasm of a prophet and the patience of a 
martyr, pursued his researches under the depressing force 
of poverty, and continual disappointment, and contempt, and 
reproach, and imprisonment for debt, and keen domestic 
grief, till at last nature betrayed her secret to him, and the 
world was thenceforth the richer for all his years of labor 
and of sorrow. Railways had never been imagined at the 
close of the old French war, nor for a long time afterwards, 
but railways are less wonderful to us than a good turnpike 
road would have been to the builders of this house ; and 
such rates and distances of locomotion as devout and learned 
men in the year 1800 would hardly have thought possible 
even in the millennium, (there being no distinct chapter and 
verse of Scripture to warrant the idea) seem to our young 
people as much a thing of course as a horseback journey at 
the rate of thirty miles a day seemed to their great-grand- 
parents a hundred years ago. l^ay, a generation is already 
growing up, in whose e3'es the magnetic telegraph, flashing 



37 

its messages a thousand miles with iustantaueons communi- 
cation, and reporting to us in the morning what happened 
yesterday in California, is no more wonderful than the mag- 
netic needle pointing northward ; and to whom the photo- 
graphic art, scattering its exquisite pictures through all our 
dwellings, 

" Thick as autumnal leaves that strow the brooks 
In Vallomorosa," 

seems as little to be astonished at as the reflection from a 
looking glass. 

It is not merely for the sake of an impressive contrast 
between the present and the past that I refer you to these 
facts, but rather for the sake of demonstrating the progress 
which Christian civilization has made within the last hun- 
dred years toward the promised restoration of man's 
dominion over the riches and the powers of the natural 
world. There is a grand significance in these facts as 
related to the future. If we hold that barbarism came into 
the world with that apostasy from God which degraded man 
from his original lordship over nature — if, kindling with 
the prophetic hope that glows alike in the Old Testament 
and the Xew, we hear Him who sitteth on the throne j^ro- 
claiming along the course of time, "Behold I make all 
things new " — if, in fellowship with prophets and apostles, 
we see all arts, all sciences, all commerce, all civilization, all 
improvements and alleviations in the condition of mankind, 
subordinated and made subservient, in God's providence, to 
the moral and spiritual renovation of the world — if we see 
in all these things not only the eifect of Christianity infused 
into the life of nations, but the arrangements which God is 
making for the universal prevalence and glory of his king- 
dom in the hearts of men — we cannot but be conscious of a 



deep religious awe as we tliiiik of the changes which distin- 
guish the century since 1763, above all other centuries, as 
the period of advancement in the sciences of nature and in 
those inventions by which the riches and the powers of 
nature are made available for the welfare of mankind. 

If now, remembering the changes to which we have 
adverted, we imagine to ourselves again the congregation 
which worshipped under this roof on the 8th of December, a 
hundred years ago, another view of the contrast between 
them and us, arrests our thoughts. I have no time to speak 
in detail, nor you to hear, of the 2:»rogress which our country 
has made in wealth within the last hundred years. Yet 
you will allow me to detain you on this topic for a moment, 
because here too are facts and principles prophetic of the 
future. 

What was the aggregate wealth of Worcester — the tax- 
able property if you please — as compared with the popula- 
tion, in 1703 ? And what is it in 18(33 ? But Worcester, it 
may be said, is exceptional ; it has suddenly grown into a 
city and must not be taken as a specimen. Look, then, at a 
larger area. What w^as the aggregate wealth of ]Massachu- 
setts as compared with the population, a hundred years ago ? 
And what is it now? Or, taking a still wider view, what 
was the average wealth of every man, woman and child in 
the thirteen colonies, a hundred years ago ? And what is 
the average wealth of every man, woman and child in the 
thirty-five United States to-day, after all the destruction 
wrought by this stupendous civil w^ar ? I make no answer 
to these questions. Let it suffice to ask them. The statis- 
tics would be dry and wearisome. The questions them- 
selves, without any consultation of statistical tables, over- 
whelm us with the contrast between the riches of the 



39 

American people now and the poverty of our fathers three 
generations ago. Any attempt to express tlie dilierence in 
sums of money Avoukl simply bewilder us. 

But there is an easier and more satisfactory way of con- 
ceiving the difterence. Think again of the people who 
came togetlier in this house on the day when it was first 
opened for the celebration of the thanksgiving. What 
notions had they as to the necessaries and ordinary comforts 
of civilized life ? What sort of houses did they inhabit ? 
In what style were their houses finished and furnished? 
What did they eat and drink, and wherewithal were they 
clothed ? How much tea and coliee, and liow much sugar 
did each family consume in a year ? How many silk dresses, 
new and old, were there in town ? How many families were 
there that had ever thought of aspiring to the possession of 
a carpet ? Doubtless there were in some rich houses costly 
sets of china, but how many families were there that drank 
from pewter cups and ate from wooden trenchers ? How 
many wheeled carriages were there in the whole town, and 
of what description ? How many people were there who 
had ever carried an umbrella, and how many girls that had 
ever heard of a parasol ? How many pianos were there in 
the town, or spinnets, or guitars, or other instruments of 
music additional to the drums and fifes that had so lately 
learned to play Yankee Doodle in the conquest of Canada ? 
Spinning wheels — the large one for wool and the little one 
for flax — were in every inventory of household goods, and 
in the outfit of every bride ; but where was there a sewing 
machine ? 

This last question touches the root of the dificrence. 
Spinning wheels have disappeared from all families, because 
all spinning is now performed elsewhere at a cheaper rate 



40 

by water-power or steam-power propelling curious iiui- 
ctiiueiy. A Imndred years ago, the era of machinery had 
not yet begun. With a few exceptions, chiefly of a primitive 
sort, all productive labor, mechanical and agricultural, was 
performed by animal strength, human and brutal, and with 
the aid of tools or implements comparatively clumsy. But 
now — and in this new and free country of ours above all 
others — all human industry is supplemented by the giant 
forces of nature tamed and harnessed for labor. The water 
wheel and the steam engine are doing what millions upon 
millions of hands could not have done a century ago in the 
production of wealth. And not only so, but the strength 
of human muscles and the deft nimbleness of human fingers 
are continually becoming incalculably more efficient by the 
introduction of new mechanical contrivances. The in- 
creased production of wealth by the use of sewing machines 
in families and in all sorts of workshops wliere stitches are 
made, if it could be gathered year by year into one great 
fund, would pay in a few years all the debt which this rebel- 
lion is imposing on the nation. 

Who then can tell us what our posterity will not have seen 
at the end of another century ? The progress of invention 
is not yet completed. On the contrary, more minds of 
high order than ever before are at this moment investigat- 
ing every possible application of science to the processes of 
industry and the creation of wealth. IS'obody dares to pro- 
nounce any attempt chimerical, unless it contradicts the 
known laws of nature. The invention of machinery and of 
other contrivances in the productive arts has become a 
recognized profession like civil engineering. Who shall set 
any limit to this work of subduing the earth and of appro- 
priating its exhaustless resources ? The superiority of 



41 

Christian nations over all barbarous and semi-barbarous 
races is to be more and more developed ; and the riches are 
to be created by which, if we do not misinterpret the reve- 
lation of God's plan, these nations are not only to be ad- 
vanced beyond all former experience of what Christian 
civilization may be, but are to spread the glory and the effi- 
cacy of the gospel through the world. 

And now how shall I speak of the changes which the cen- 
tury has wrought in the Church of Christ ? Permit me to 
reverse the method which I have ventured to use thus far, 
and which has not contributed so much as I hoped it would 
to the brevity of my discourse. Instead of referring to the 
general history of our country and of the world for the 
illustration of what has been going on here, we may now 
take the local history as an illustration of the general. 
The comparison between the condition and relations of this 
Church as it was a hundred years ago and the condition and 
relations of this Church as it now is, may be taken as illus- 
trating the progress which the universal Church of Christ 
has made in this country and in all lands during the same 
period. 

Can the Church remain on its foundations — can it retain 
its faith and its influence — while such changes have been 
taking place in the condition of the country and of the 
civilized world ? This Puritan Massachusetts, instead of 
being, as it was in 1763, a colonial dependency of the 
British sovereignty, is now a proud free commonwealth, a 
loyal and equal member of the great Union that spans the 
continent with its arch of empire. Wars, revolutions, the 
overthrow of dynasties, and the growth and decay of em- 
pires, have been changing the map of the world ever since 
the century began ; and at this moment the civil war which 



42 

convulses our nation is felt through the world. Forces that 
had no recognized existence a century ago, are revolutioniz- 
ing the industrv of Christendom and the commerce of the 
world, and are extending indefinitely the dominion of man 
over material nature. The unprecedented increase of wealth, 
especially in our own country, is producing a style of civili- 
zation and a condition of society never known before. The 
world is seething and fermenting with the eftects which such 
changes are bringing to pass in the habits and opinions, the 
manners and morals, the aspirations and hopes, of all 
nations. Many are running to and fro, and knowledge is 
increased ; the domain of science is extended in every pos- 
sible direction ; and everywhere, as at Athens in the days of 
Paul, there are many who seem to " spend their time in 
nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing." 
How fares the Church in this crisis of history ? Does it 
maintain its faith and testimony ? Does it retain its influ- 
ence ? Does it remain stationary amid all changes, like an 
old hulk moored in the current on which everything is 
passing by ? Let us try these questions by recollecting some 
of the changes which this church has undergone since it 
began to worship under the roof that shelters us to-day. 

Of course the external and incidental things of public 
worship are liable to change in changing times. The build- 
ing itself has been altered. Its foundations, its frame, its 
roof, and its spire remain. Its architecture, in contrast with 
the more solid and more splendid structures of the present 
age, tells us of other days. But the men who built it, after 
the most approved models of the New England metropolis, 
with the pulpit window on one side, and with the salient 
entries at the two ends and on the other side, with square 
pew^s and high galleries, with no arrangement for warming 



43 

it in winter and no lecture room, with lofty pulpit and 
a conspicuous " elder's seat " facing the congregation in 
official dignity, — would hardly know their own work could 
they see it now. What would pastor and deacons, and all 
the gray haired men and women of 1763, have said if, in 
prophetic vision, they could have seen an organ here ? One 
of the earliest changes after the completion of this house 
was in the mode of singing. Is it not written in Lincoln's 
History of Worcester? A controversy had agitated the 
community for forty years, heginning with the question, 
" In which way the congregation shall sing in future, 
whether in the ruleable way, or in the usual way " — wheth- 
er in conformity to the rules of musical art, with life and 
spirit, and with something of harmony, — or in the drawling 
and inharmonious method of a dead tradition. From one 
step of the conflict to another, the obstinacy of the conserv- 
ative element resisted tliQ impulsiveness of the progressive 
element. At the end of forty-three years it was voted in 
town meeting, [May 1769] " that the elder's seat be used for 
some persons to lead the congregation in singing." Four- 
years afterwards, there was a modest attempt to recognize 
the institution of a choir of singers, but it was not till six- 
teen years after the building of this house, that the old tra- 
ditions were finally and ignominiously vanquished. Three 
votes in a town meeting, made the record of the victory. 
■" Voted that the singers sit in the front seats of the front 
gallery, and that said singers have said seats appropriated to 
said use. Voted that said singers be requested to take said 
seats and carry on singing in public worship. Voted that 
the mode of singing, in the congregation here, be without 
reading the psalms, line by line, to be sung." As if to make 
the victory absolute, it came to pass, on the ensuing Sabbath,, 



44 

that when the psahn had been announced and read as usual 
by the pastor, a venerable deacon, insisting on his tradition- 
ary prerogative, begun to dole it out in the old way, line by 
line, for the siiigers ; but his voice as he attempted to pro- 
ceed was drowned by the triumphant choir, and the baffled 
deacon retired from the meeting-house in tears. , The organ 
was only one remote result of that revolution. . 

These are only a specimen of the changes in respect to the 
external things of public worship, which have taken place, 
within a hundred years, throughout our country. Church 
edifices are more convenient and comfortable than formerly, 
often more splendid, sometimes even luxurious in their fin- 
ish and their furniture. Church music though often rude 
enough, is in a state of constant revolution, and aspires to be 
tasteful and impressive. The order of public worship is 
getting to be a theme of inquiry and discussion ; and almost 
every young minister has his own scheme of further reform- 
ation. Conservative men may do well to ask whether there 
is not a growing tendency in the Church of all names to 
make public worship an imposing performance — a luxury 
— a fine art, instead of simple prayer and praise ; but no- 
body dares propose to go backward and restore the external 
things of our worship just as they were in 1763, 

Some changes there have been in the style of preaching, 
and some in the matter of the sermons. To me personally 
there is something of an autumn feeling in the fact that of 
the eight successive pastors who have ministered in this 
house, I have had some acquaintance with all but the first. 
As for that first preacher in this house, whose death was 
almost eighty years ago, the preciousness of his mem- 
ory among his people is testified by the monumental tablet 
continually before the congregation. In his theological 



4.3 

system he appears to ]ia\:e been a Calviiiist of what was then 
the okl school. The phrase by which tlie first President Ad- 
ams described him, " Though a Calvinist, not a bigot," is high- 
ly suggestive. He was not of the anti-Calvinistic party wdiich 
had already become strong in Massachusetts ; and on the 
other hand he was not of the party whose more intense and 
logical style of Calvinism was called "N^ew Divinity," and 
wdio were one and all bigots in tlie sight of such men as 
John Adams. His theory of the Christian doctrines w^ould 
seem to have been Just that which w^as held at Harvard Col- 
lege in his life-time. His immediate successor, Samuel 
Austin, was of a different school. The younger Ed- 
wards had been his pastor and his theological teacher. 
He was a ^ew Divinity Calvinist, a man of strong opinions 
on all the legitimate themes of preaching ; and his preach- 
ing was of that sort wdiich permits no hearer to be indiffer- 
ent. The next pastor, Charles A. Goodrich, and the next, 
Ar.etius B. Hull, were beloved pupils of the illustrious 
Dwight, in wdiose theology the more violent statements and 
unswerving conclusions which had made the " 'New Divin- 
ity " obnoxious to so many minds, were wisely mitigated. 
Good ministers of Jesus Christ were they, worthy to be 
loved and reverenced for their work's sake, and w^orthy to 
be had in everlasting remembrance. The four that have 
followed them in this succession are all, save one,, among 
the living. But of their teaching from this pulpit I may say 
two things : First, they all have held and taught essentially 
the same system of religious truth — the same revelation of 
God in Christ reconciling the world to himself — which all 
their predecessors held and taught before them ; and second- 
hl, the differencs eamong them and their predecessors, in 
their several ministrations of the one gospel, are a sufficient 



46 

demonstration tliat Christianity — Orthodox Christianity, if 
yon please — is not a dead and petrified tradition, not a 
syntagma of hard dogmas that mnst not be examined and 
cannot be proved, not an iron cage in which minds that 
ought to be free are imprisoned — but a body of trntli touch- 
ing the deepest and most vital wants of human nature, and 
stimuhiting all sorts of minds to free and manh^ thought on 
the most momentous themes that can be l)rought within the 
reach of the human intelligence. The modern study of the 
Scriptures by devout scholars admits and traces out the fact, 
rarely noticed in earlier times, that each of the Apostles 
whose writings instruct us concerning the persomd charac- 
ter and human life of Clirist and the grace and truth that 
came by him, received the inspired and inspiring truth into 
his own molds of thought, and each gives it out to us in his 
own peculiar forms of conception and of illustration. Thus, in 
the last analysis of the j^ew Testament Scriptures, we find 
not only that each of the four Gospels presents the one per- 
sonal Saviour from its own point of view, and makes its own 
contribution to the completeness of our acquaintance with 
him whom to know is eternal life, but also that the con- 
scious or unconscious crystalization or system of Christian 
thought in the mind of each Apostle is peculiar to himself. 
Even so the one Gospel, immutable in its objective reality, 
is in some degree variously conceived and illustrated not 
only according to the characteristic genius of different lan- 
guages and nations, and according to the progress of human 
thought in the successive centuries of time, but also accord- 
ing to the idiosyncrasies of individual minds. Change in- 
deed is not always for the better ; and there may be chang- 
es in the manner and the matter of preaching which seem 
to be improvements, but are in reality disastrous to the 



47 

interest of trnth and of salvation. However it may be with 
the successive changes since first the gospel sounded in this 
house, we , know that in proportion as the mind of the 
preacher, tilled with the love of Christ and with the sense 
of things not seen, brings the mind of the hearer into direct 
communication with the mind of the Spirit in the Scriptures 

— in proportion as the preacher and hearers learn to in- 
quire not what the technical words of human wisdom teach 
in some catechism or confession, but simply what the Holy 
Ghost teacheth in the infallible record — in proportion as 
preacher and hearers escape from the habit of interpreting 
the Scriptures by some human standard, and learn to meas- 
ure and test all systems of theology by the Scriptures — in 
proportion as the preaching of the gospel makes men con- 
scious of their need as sinners and shows them plainly, 
intelligibly, and practically, what they must do to be saved, 

— in that proportion there is progress. ~"~~ — 
In respect to another change there is no room for any 

doubt among us. A hundred years ago there was only one 
church in Worcester, and the church stood in an intimate 
relation of dependence on the town. The duty of support- 
ing public worship was recognized by the laws as a political 
duty, and the town as a political body had a voice in religi- 
ous and ecclesiastical questions. In a little more than 
twenty years after the building of this house, a separation 
from the worship here was instituted on the principle of 
voluntary association for the support of religious institu- 
tions ; and in the year 1787 the Second Parish was recog- 
nized bylaw. To that second parish let the praise be freely 
awarded, which it claims, of having inaugurated in the 
country towns of Massachusetts the principle on which all 
churches in the United States now stand,— the principle 



48 

that the support of public worship is not properly a political 
hut a religious duty; or in other words that while the sup- 
port of public worship is, like worship itself, a duty incum- 
bent on all, it is also, like worship itself, a duty to be volun- 
tarily and freely rendered. By the establishment of that 
l^rinciple, the relation of the Church to the State, and to all 
subordinate bodies properly political, has been materially 
changed. And how much has Christianity, as a power in 
society, gained hj that revolution ? How could the church- 
es of Massachusetts (for exami:)le,) have sustained themselves 
in the conflict about the moral character of the institution 
of slavery, if the free action of churches and pastors had 
been constantly embarrassed by a dependence on town 
meetings or on any other municipal authority? All history 
shows that the power of the church, as a Divine institution 
bearing witness for truth and righteousness, is limited and 
restrained instead of being aided by political alliances. 
There can be no doubt that the absolute freedom of the 
American churches augments bej^ond all calculation the 
power of their testimony on every moral question. 

But not only has the relation between the Church and 
the State been chan2:ed ; there has been a no less sio^nificant 
change in the purely ecclesiastical relations of this ancient 
Church. A hundred years ago there was only one church 
in Worcester, and that one church was strictly Congrega- 
tional in its forms and Calvinistic in its statements and 
illustrations of Christian doctrine. How different are its 
relations now ! jSTot only is it surrounded by other churches 
holding the same forms and traditions with itself, but also 
by churches that worship the one God, through the one Me- 
diator between God and men, in other forms, and in accord- 
ance with other traditions doctrinal and ecclesiastical. I 



49 

am uot going to imply that the diversity of Christian 
churches, with their separation from each other under 
various sectarian names and banners, is good in itself. But 
this I am sure of : In the existing condition of Christian- 
ity, the multiplicity and diversity of churches, notwith- 
standing all the narrowness on one side or the other which 
produces schism among those who ought to tolerate each 
other in the same communion, is favorable to liberty of 
individual thought and conscience among Christians. Will' 
any man deny that it has been so here ? Can any fail to see 
what the tendency is ? "When the Edwardean Calvinist and 
the Wesleyan Arminian, having drawn apart into separate 
bodies, are ' compelled to recognize each other as "evan- 
gelical " and as holding the essential things in the doctrine 
that is according to godliness, theology has made great 
progress in spite of theologians ; and men begin to see in 
[what direction lies the path to visible unity among believers 
in Christ. 

There is yet another and perhaps still more significant 
change in the position and relations of the Church. AVhat 
were the charities and the aggressive enterprises of this 
Church a hundred years ago ? How far, and in what meth- 
ods, did it recognize the essential aggressiveness of Chris- 
tianity as related to the misery, the ignorance and the 
wickedness of the world ? In those 'days the Church cared 
for itself and for all who dwelt within its parochial bound- 
aries. Beside the ministration of the word in two services 
of public worship every Lord's day, there was the monthly 
lecture preparatory to the celebration of the Lord's Supper ; 
there was the regular catechising of the children in the 
form of the Assembly's Shorter Catechism ; there were 
neighborly charities for the relief of the poor or the afilict- 



50 

ed ; and the pastor of the Church, being also an officer and 
servant of the town, regarded every family in the town, and 
every individual, as under his official care, so that every 
house received his official visits. What was there more 
than this ? There was prayer and aspiration for the coming 
of God's kingdom. There lingered, doubtless, in many 
hearts a tradition of the labors which Eliot performed a 
hundred years before among the heathen between AYorcester 
and Boston ; and some elderly people retained a vivid recol- 
lection of how the saintly Brainerd, whose biography was a 
fresh and popular religious book, had worn himself out with 
toil and hardship among the Indians just this side of 
Albany and on the line of communication between ]^ew 
York and Philadelphia. Some there may have been to 
whom the experiment which had been for thirty years in 
progress at Stockbridge, and in which so distinguished a 
man as Jonathan Edwards had labored for a while, was 
suggestive of great things yet to be attempted in behalf of 
the heathen world. But how unlike is the remembrance of 
what w^as a hundred years ago, to the present position of 
this Church, and of every Christian church in this land, as 
related to the world that "lieth in wickedness!" How 
unlike to the aggressive activity of Christianity as now 
developed here and everywhere ! The idea of enterprise 
and action for the kingdom of God, for the diffusion of 
Christian influences far and near, and for the conversion of 
all men " from darkness to light and from the power of 
Satan unto God," has become in all free countries, and in 
proportion to their freedom, the most obvious and impres- 
sive distinction between the churches as they are and the 
churches as they were a hundred years ago. 

The change to which we are now adverting becomes more 



61 

significant to our thoughts as we remember where this 
Church was a hundred years ago, and where it is now. In 
1763 the western limit of Christendom, on this parallel of 
latitude, was between Albany and Utica, about two hundred 
miles from the meridian of Worcester. All beyond to the 
Pacific ocean was savage paganism ; and in all that ocean 
there was not one green isle that had received the law of 
God. Xew England was then upon the western frontier of 
the Christian world. And where are we now ? Christian 
civilization with its Bible, with its Sabbaths, with its schools, 
with its temples, with the tree of life whose leaves are for 
the healing of the nations, has extended itself westward 
beyond the AUeghanies, beyond the Mississippi, beyond the 
Rocky Mountains. Along the rushing waters of the Ore- 
gon, and where the sun, rising from behind the sierras of 
California, goes down into the western ocean, there are 
Christian homes and Christian temples. Still farther west 
the " island-world " of the Pacific is receiving the gospel; 
and, farther yet, the light, in its circuit round the globe, is 
dawning on the oldest orient. Protestant missionaries are 
invading the remotest and most barbarous lands ; and all 
the languages of the earth are receiving the gift of letters 
that they yma record the oracles of God, and are becoming 
musical with worship offered in the name of Christ. In no 
period of the same duration since the age of the Apostles 
has there been so great an extension of Christianity as in the 
century since 1763. 

What then may we not hope for in the future ? Some of 
our grandchildren will be living in the sixty-third year of 
the twentieth Christian century. ^Vliat revolutions of 
emi3ire they will have seen ; what progress will have been 
made in the recovery of man's dominion over nature ; what 



52 

wealth, derived from sources and productive powers not jet 
discovered, will then adorn the earth ; what victories will 
have been gained over human misery and wickedness for the 
kingdom of Christ, it is not for us to know. But we know' 
that God's work of making all things new is not yet com- 
pleted. That great work of God, now advancing with 
accelerated movement, will proceed along the ages, subor- 
dinating to itself the growth and decay of nations, the 
vicissitudes of war and peace, the progress of human know- 
ledge and of arts that minister to human welfare, as well as 
the aspirations and endeavors of all godlike souls, — till 
earth and heaven worshipping in one grand chorus, and 
reflecting to each other the glory of their Maker, shall keep 
the Sabbath of the new creation. . 

Some things, I said, remain unchanged. Pastors and 
teachers die, and their memory lingers for a while in loving 
hearts and then becomes traditionary ; but while ye remem- 
ber them who have had the rule over you, who have spoken 
to you the word of God, while ye follow their faith consid- 
ering the end to which their life of faith has led them, ye 
remember also that " Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever." Successive generations in the Church 
move onward to the general assembly and church of the 
first-born, but the Church of God remains, 

" Nor can her firm foundations move, 
Built on his truth, and armed with power." 

We who keep this festal to-day are soon to disappear, for 
" all flesh is grass and all the goodliness thereof is as the 
flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth ; 
but the word of our God shall stand forever." Heaven and 
earth shall pass away, but thy word, Christ, shall not pass 
away! "And this is the word which by the gospel is 
preached unto you." 



ORDER OF EXERCISES m THE CHURCH. 



1. — Voluntary, on the Organ, by Mr. 11. L. Ainsworth, the 
Organist of the Church. 

2. — Introductory Remarks, — By Hon. Ira M. Barton, tl)e Pres. 
ident on the occasion. 

3. — Chant, by a select Choir in the antiphonal or responsive 
manner of the most ancient Church, A. D. 500. 

Psalm XLVI. 

1. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 

2. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be removed. 

And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, 

3. Though the tvaters thereof roar and he troubled. 

4. Though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. 

5. Inhere is a river, the streams wh&eof 
Shall make glad the city of God ; 

6. The holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High. 

7. God is in the midst of her ; she shall not be moved, 

8. God shall help her, and that right early. 

9. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved ; 
He uttered his voice, the earth melted. 

10. The Lord of Hosts is with us ; the God of Jacob is our refuge. 

11. Come behold the works of the Lord, 

What desolations he hath made in the earth. 

12. He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth, 
He breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder ; 
He burneth the chariot in the fire. 

13. Be still, and know that I am God. 

14. I will be exalted among the heathen, 
I will be exalted in the earth. 

15. The Lord of hosts is with us ; 

The God of Jacob is our refuge. ' 

16. The Lord of Hosts is with us ; 

The God of Jacob i^ our refuge. Amen, 



54 

4. — Invocation, By the Pastor, Eev. E. A. Walker. 
5 — Hymn, lined off to the Congregation, by Dea. Allen Har- 
ris, in the " usual way" of A. D. 1763. 

Ps. 103 — verses 17 to 22 inclusive. New England Psalm and Hymn Book, 
1762. 

Tune — " Windsor," — Called in the Scottish books of Psalmody, "Dundee." 

1 . Who fear the Lord, his mercy is 
. On them from aye to aye ; 

So, likewise doth his righteousness 
On children's chiTdren stay. 

2. To such as keep his cov'nant sure, 

Who do in mind up lay 
The charge of his commandment pure, 
That it obey they may.- 

3. The Lord hath in the heavens high 

Established his throne ; 
And over all his royalty 
Doth bear do-min-i-on. 

4. ye his angels that excel 

In strength, bless ye the Lord, 
That do his word, that hearken well 
Unto the voice of 's word. 

5. All ye the armies of the Lord 

bless Jehovah still : 

Ye ministers that do accord 

His pleasure to fulfill. 

6. Yea, all his works in places all 

Of his do-min-i-on, 
Bless ye Jehovah : my soul, 
Jehovah bless alone. 

6. — Reading of the Scriptures, by the Pastor. 
7. Prayer, by Rev. Seth Sweetser, D, D. 



55 

8. — Hymn, by the Choir, with accompaniments of stringed instru- 
ments, in the manner of A. D. 1800. 

A Version of Psalm XLIV. — Tutie, jN'orthfield. 

1. Lord, we have heard thy works of old — 

Thy works of power and grace, 
When to our ears our fathers told 
The wonders of their days ; 

2. How thou didst build thy cfiurches here ; 

And make thy gospel known ; 
Among them did thine arm appear, 
Thy light and glory shone. 

3. In God they boasted all the day, 

And in a cheerful throng 
Did thousands meet to praise and pray 
And grace was all their song. 

4. As thee, their God, our fathers owned 

So thou art still our King ; 
0, therefore, as of old to them, 
To us deliverance bring. 

9. — Discourse, by Eev. Leonard Bacon, D. D. 
10.— Prater, by Eev. Willard Child, D. D. 
11. — Hymn, written for the occasion, by Mrs. E. A. Walker, and 
sung by the choir, with organ, in the manner of A. D. 1863. 



56 




Tune— "Antho," composed by tdward Hamilton Esq., the Musical Director. 

1. The Aloe, in the Northern clime, 
Gathers its strength from sun and rime, 
Transmuting into healing leaves 
Whatever from Nature it receives. 

2. But not until a hundred years, 
The glory of its life appears, 

The sweetness, treasured hour by hour. 
The Century crowns with perfect flower. 

3. And thus our ancient Church 0, Lord ! 
Has scattered healing leaves abroad ; 
A hundred years its influence bless. 
Thousands its saving power confess. 

4. 0, let this natal -day behold 

Its strength and fragrance all unfold ; 

Accept the glory of its days. 

The blossom of its garner'd praise. 



DOXOLOGY. 

Congregation join. — Old Hundred. 

Praise God from whom all blessing flow, 
Praise him all creatures here below, 
Praise Him above ye heavenly Host, 
Praise Father, Son and Holy^ Ghost. 

12. — Benediction, by the Pastor. 

The church was quite filled by a large, intelligent, and much 
interested audience. The choir under the direction of Edward 
Hamilton, Esq., consisted of about forty members, invited from 
the different choirs of the city, and their performances gave great 
satisfaction to the audience. 



APPENDIX. 



1 — Proceedings of the Parish, and of the Committee 

OF Arrangements. 

At the Annual meeting of the Parish, March 30, 1863, it was 
voted to choose a committee of seven, to see what action (if any) 
the Parish would take for the proper observance of the Centennial 
Anniversary of the erection of their meeting house; to report 
at an adjourned meeting. And Col. James Estabrook, Dea. Al- 
len Harris, Daniel Ward, Dea. Caleb Dana, Dea. Eichard Ball, 
Samuel A. Porter, and Daniel Taintor, were chosen. 

At the adjournment, the committee reported in favor of the 
commemoration of the event; that a committee of fifteen should 
be appointed to make all fit and proper arrangements for the occa- 
sion ; and that as the expense must be very considerable, it should 
be defrayed by subscription This report was accepted, and the 
following committee appointed : Col. James Estabrook, Dta. 
Allen Harris, Dea. Richard Ball, Da.iiel Ward, Waterman A. 
Fisher, San^uel A. Porter, Calvin Taft, Aury G. Coes, George A. 
Chamberlain, William G. Moore, Dexter H. Peny, Dea. Charles 
A. Lincoln, Franklin Whipple, William D. Holbrook, and Joha 
Boyden. To these were added Dea. Caleb Dana and Ira M. 
Barton. 

The Committee met in the Chapel May 7, 1863, and organized 
by appointing Col. James Estabrook, Chairman, and William D. 
Holbrook, Secretary. 

Ira M. Barton, Allen Hai-ris and Caleb Dana, were chosen a 
committee to procure a person to deliver a discoui'se on the pro- 
posed occasion ; to divide the committee of seventeen into appro- 
priate sub-committees and report at au adjournment. May 21st. 

8 



58 

They accordingly reported in favor of dividing the committee of 
arrangements into sub-committees, upon the following subjects, 
and such committees were appointed, to wit : 

ON COLLECTING JACTS : 

Allen Harris, Ira M. Barton, 

Daniel Ward, Caleb Dana, 

George A. Chamberlain, 

ON INVITATIONS : 

Caleb Dana, Waterman A. Fisher, 

Samuel A. Porter, Eichard Ball, 

James Estabrook. 

ON DINNKR AND LEVEE : 

Eichard Ball, Charles A Lincoln, 

Waterman A. Fisher, Calvin Taft, 
Samuel A. Porter. 

ON MUSIC : 

John Boyden, Wm. D. Holbrook, Franklin Whipple. 

ON FINANCE : 

Calvin Taft, Wm. G-. Moore, 

Charles A. Lincoln, Auiy G. Coes, 
Allen Harris, Dexter H. Perry. 

The general commiitec also appointed Ira M. Barton as Presi- 
dent for the occasion, and Col. James Estabrook, Marshal, with 
John Boyden and Samuel A. Porter, and such others as the Mar- 
shal might designate, as assistants. Subsequently, the following 
gentlemen were so designated as xlssistant Marshals : William D. 
Holbrook, William H. Jacobs, John D. Lovell and Jonathan B. 
Sibley. 

At adjournments of the General Committee, the following gen- 
tlemen were appointed Vice Presidents : Henry Goulding, Osgood 
Bradle}^ Luther Stone, Henry Prentice, Stephen Taft, Dana H. 
Fitch, Alfred Parker, Luke B. Witherby, Dr. J. E. Linnell, Au- 
gustus N. Currier, Daniel Tainter, Walter E. Bigelow, Samuel 
Smith and Simeon Clapp. 

The Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. D. of New Haven, Conn, was 
unanimously chosen to deliver a discourse; and Tuesday, Septem- 
ber 22, 1803, at 10 J, A. M., was appointed the time for ihe servi- 
ces in the Parish Cliurch. 

The committee on invitations, with the approbation of the gen- 



eral committee, issued notes of invitation to the several classes of 
persons referred to by the President ia his introductory remarivs, 
to which there was a Hberal response either in person or by letter. 

NOTE ON INVITATION. 

CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 

Worcester, Sept. 1st, 1863. 
To 

Dear Sir ; 

The First Church and Parish of the City of Worcester will 
commemorate the One Hundreth Anniversary of the erection of their present 
House of Worship, by a Centennial Celebration, on the twenty-second day of 
September, instant. 

A discourse will be delivered on the occasion by Rev. Leonard Bacon, D. 
D., of New Haven, Conn. 

Services at the church will commence at 10^ o'clock, A. M. 
The undersigned, in behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, respectfully 
and cordially invite you to be present and unite with us in the services and 
festivities of the occasion. 

CALEB DANA, ^ 

SAMUEL A. PORTER, Committee on 

JAMES ESTABROOK, > 

W. A. FISHER, Invitations. 

-"" RICHARD BALL. J 

The committee were also authorized to present tickets for the 
dinner to the choir, and to aged and infirm members of the cluirch 
and parish. 

The Committee of Arrangements met in the Chapel on Monday, 
Sept. 28, 1863. 

On motion of I. M. Barton, it was unanimously voted, that the 
thanks of this committee be presented to the Eev. Dr. Bacon for 
his valuable and interesting Discourse, delivered on the occasion of 
the hundredth Anniversary of the erection of the House of Wor- 
ship of the First Parish in Worcester, and that he be recoiested to 
furnish a copy of the same for publication. 

On motion of Dea. Eichard Ball, I. M. Barton, Dea. Allen 
Harris and Dea. Caleb Dana were chosen a committee to commu- 
nicate the above vote to Dr. Bacon, and also to publish his Dis- 
course and the proceedings of the occasion. 

At a subsequent meeting of the Committee of Ai-rangements, 
the}^ voted that the following matter be embraced in the publica- 
tion. In addition to the introductory remarks of the President, 



6.0 

and the Order of Exereises in the Church, an Appendix, embra- 
cing, 

1. An epitome of the proceedings of ilie Parish and Committee. 

2. Sentiments and proceedings at the table after dinner. 

3. Proceedings in Mechanics Hall. 

4. Historical JMotes. 

2. — Exercises at the Dinner Table. 

After the services in the church, the invited guests and holders 
of tickets, under the direction of the marshal and his assistants, 
proceeded to the Bay State House for dinner. 

An agreeable re-union was had in the saloons of the Hotel, and 
at three o'clock, P. M., the company, consisting of about three 
hundred gentlemen and ladies, sat down at dinner; the blessing 
being invoked by the Kev. Dr. Al'.;nzo Hill, the minister of the 
Second Parish. 

The exercises after dinner, commenced with the remark of the 
President, that having occupied the attention of the company so 
long in the church, the residue of their time belonged to their 
respected invited guests; from as many of whom as practica- 
ble, we were all desirous of hearing. Before, however, giving sen- 
timents calling for particular responses, he desired to give utter- 
ence lo one, which in the present exigency of the country, 
and upon all occasions, whether grave or festive, was tirst and 
uppermost in his own mind, and to which he knew that the whole 
company would very heartily respond. Our former respected min- 
ister, the Eev. Horace James, is at his chosen post of duty, as 
Chaplain of our 25th. i^egiment of Volunteers ; and a large number 
of the young men of our parish, with many comrades from the 
other parishes of the city, early volunteered in defence of the 
Union, and as our first sentiment, we give you, 

1. Ouiji Country and its brave defenders. 

The President then remarked, that the favor with which th^ 
sentiment was received, indicated that the compan}'- regarded dis- 
loyalty to the Union as treason; and if so, a want of proper 
respect for our City Government, must be, at least, petit treason- 
As the representative of that government, we are happy to recog. 
nize the presence of our Mayor, with his predecessors, and it is a 
pleasant fact, for the truth of which we have the satisfactory testi- 
mony of his honored mother, that he is a lineal descendant, on the 



61 

maternal side, of those distinguished benefactors of the Old South, 
the Judges Chandler j bearing the Christian name of one who 
was long a prominent member of that parish, and subsequently the 
principal founder of the Central Church. In the expectation that 
we may hear from him, we give you as a sentiment, 

2. Our City Government : 

Identified with no particular sect ; by supporting public order, 
they cherish and sustain all. 

His Honor, Daniel Waldo Lincoln, the Mayor of the City, respon- 
ded to this sentiment, remarking, that with a slight variation of 
dates, this hundredth anniversary of the erection of the Church of 
the first parish, would answer for the hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary of the incorporation of the town of Worcester, with 
which the pai'ish was originally identified ; concluding with a sen- 
timent of respect for its founders and friends. 

It is befitting that we should now hear from the distinguished 
first Mayor of our city. We might allude to the high executive 
and judicial oflices, which he long and ably sustained in the Com- 
monwealth. But on this occasion, we have to speak of him as our 
former local Chief Magistrate. And of his services in that behalf, 
it is but just to say, that as the first Mayor of the city, he gave 
the form and direction to the administration of our city govern- 
ment, that have commended it to the continued favor of our citi- 
zens. We have received a whole handful of sentiments, eompli. 
mentary to our honored guest, but none to which this company 
will more heartily respond, than the simple aspiration for 

3. The prolonged life and health of Ex-Governor Lincoln. 

To this sentiment the venerable ex-Governor responded with the 
buoyancy of youth, and the wisdom of age. Amongst his recol- 
lections, those of the Eev. Dr. Austin, who was installed as the 
minister of the Old South in 1790, were peculiarly interesting. 
He described the Doctor as having been a " perfect Boanerges" in 
the pulpit; while out of it he was much addicted to the peaceful 
pursuits of agriculture, and was, by no means, unmindful of the 
amenities of social life. Of the successor of Dr. Austin, the Bev. 
Charles A. Goodrich, he spoke as a man of fine taste, and one of 
the most amiable men in the world. But the ex-Governor ingen- 
uously stated the fiict, that in his younger days, when a member 
of the Bar, he had been the counsel of Mr. Goodrich in some unfor- 



62 

tunate difficulties, so that his auditors might jndge what dednction 
if anyy sliould be made from his favoring testimony, on account of 
his relation to his client. 

The President then adverted to the fact appearing elsewhere iti 
these proceedings, that nearl}^ all the clergymen of the Old South 
had been drawn from the state of Connecticut and Yale College; 
and amongst them, the last but not the least, the present incum- 
bent of the pulpit. This fact no doubt suggested the following 
sentiment, which the company will, at once, recognize as coming 
from one of the ancient and patriotic members of our Home 
Guards. 

4. The State of Connecticut and Yale College. 

They have generously supplied our Church and Parish with many 
worthy pastors; but they have always been careful to keep in 
reserve a powerful home force. 

B}' this, the President remarked, the author of the truthful sen- 
timent, no doubt meant, that with all their liberality in suppl3'ing 
others with ministers, they had always managed to save their 
Bacon. 

To this sentiment the Eev. Dr. Bacon, notwithstanding his inter- 
estino- service of two hours, in the pulpit, responded with the 
ability and aptitude, for which he is always and everywhere dis- 
tinguished on such occasions. 

The President resumed, saying that it had been customary to 
award to the Old South the honor of the maternity of the other 
parishes in the city. If so, the second parish must be regarded as 
her first born. At first, not cherished with the utmost affection, 
but set out in mnch the same way that Abraham and his wife set 
out Hagar. Not tliat this people became Ishmaelites. For though 
they soon became a strong people, the}' have always dwelt 
anion o-st their brethren of different persuasions, in great social 
harmony. 

It is a remarkable fact that the Second Parish, incorporated in 
1787, has had but two pastors, the Rev. Aaron Bancroft, D. D. 
and the present incumbent of the pulpit. And it is difficult to say 
which we most admire, the devotion of these distinguished clergy- 
men to their people, or the constancy and liberality of their people 
in sustaining them. The name of Dr. Bancroft has gone into the 
civil and ecclesiastical history of the country. His successor still 



lives nnd labors, enjoying the respect of ns all. You will cordi- 
ally respond to the sentiment, 

5. The Second Church and Parish. 

Distinguished for their able and peaceful pastorates. May they 
long continue to rejoice in the light of their city set on a Hill. 

The Eev. Alonzo Hill, D. D., the minister of the second Congre- 
gational and first Unitarian parish, res])onded to this sentiment. 

In answer to the note inviting his presence on the occasion, the 
Dr. said, 1 am glad you are to commemorate the building of 3-our 
Meeting House, one hundred years ago. It will be our commemo- 
ration as well as 3'ours; for the ancestors of my parishioners were 
then of your parish, and took a part in the erection of your edifice. 
We are 3'our child, though somewhat stubborn and wayward 3'ou 
may have deemed us. 

1 thank 3'0ii for 3^our courtes3', and shall take pleasure in uniting 
in the services and festivities of the occasion. 

In the course of some interesting remarks, D*. Hill said, that 
though thej- felt an interest in the material of the Old South 
they felt a much greater one in the respect and good will of its 
proprietors. And in the larger charit3'" of the age, he hoped that 
we might all be united in an earnest and common fliith, which 
shall sustain us in the impending trials of the country. 

The Chair next alluded to the Central Church as the second 
child of the Old South. The names of Waldo, Salisbury and 
McFarland, are signalized as the munificent benefactors of this 
church. Its ministry commenced with the Rev. Loammi I, 
Hoadle3', succeeded b3'' the Rev. John S. C. Abbot, the well known 
author, now engaged in writing an elaborate hi8tor3' of our great 
rebellion. To him succeeded that ripe scholar and most amiable 
man, the Rev. David Peabod3^, afterwards professor of rhetoric 
in Dartmouth College; equall3' loved in life, and lamented in his 
earl3- death. Of the present incumbent of the pulpit of this church 
there is no occasion to speak. His character ma3' be read in the 
affection and respect with which he is regarded not onl3' by his 
own religious communion, but b3' all his fellow citizens with whom 
he has so long resided. He will not fail to notice a sentiment dic- 
tated by sincere respect for his church, its ministers and founders, 

6. The Central Church and Parish. 

Honored in its earl3' and munificent benefactors, and in a pious 
and learned ministry. 



64 

To this sentiment the Rev. Soth Sweetser, D. D., the present 
minister of the Parish, responded in a manner very appropriate 
and effective. 

The Chair then remarked, that though we cannot justly claim 
our neighbors of the first Baptist Society, as our children, for 
according to the distinguished historian of that society, the honor 
of its paternity pertained more properly to the late venerable 
James Wilson, an emigrant from England ; yet we recognize them 
as amongst our best friends, and offer the following sentiment : — 

7. The First Baptist Society. 

The success of their first half century is the earnest of a glori- 
ous Centennial. 

The Eev. Lemuel Moss, the minister of this society, responded, 
alluding to their recent semi-centennial celebration of the gather- 
ing of their church, its existence thus embracing just half the years 
since the erectio^ of the Old South. He gracefully complimented 
their senior sister church, and expressed his best wishes for her 
continued prosperity. 

The President next alluded to the obligation of the committee of 
arrangements, for the aid afforded them in preparing for this occa- 
casion. by the American Antiquai'ian Society, incorporated in 1812. 
And in return, he would give as a Sentiment, 

8. The American Antiquarian Society. 

Though in its origin much the junior of the Old South, it faith- 
fully preserves the record of things old as well as new. 

The Hon. Stephen Salisbury, the munificent President of that 
Society, eloquently responded to the sentiment, reverently alluding 
to the age of the exterior of the venerable Old South, while the 
interior was graced with the beauty and spirit of youth. Mr. 
Salisbury also alluded, in appropriate terms, to the valuable so- 
ciety referred to in the sentiment, over which he had the honor 
to preside, and closed with an expression of great satisfaction in 
listeuin"- to the discourse this morning delivered in our ancient 
Church. 

Samuel F. Haven, Esq., the learned Librarian of the American 
Antiquarian Society, was also present, and in his answer to the 
note of invitation, expressed great interest in the objects of the 
occasion. 

On the 9th of December, 1862, the first Baptist Church com- 



65 

Bicmoratcd the fiftieth anniversary of its org-anization, h}' an inlcr- 
csling- historical (liseoiirse, wliieh was puljiislied. In allusion to 
that fact, a member of the committee offers the following seuti- 
mont : 

9-. The Historian of the First Baptist Church : 

By his recent semi-Centennial Discourse, he has made a valuable 
contribution to church hi>!tory. 

The Hon. Isaac Davis responded, expressing hisgreat intei'cst in 
the occasion ; and by his remarks, demonstrated not only the truth 
of the sentiment offered, but, by his long and official connection 
Avith the affairs of the cit^', his entire familiarity with the mate- 
rial history of all its churches and other pu!)lic buiflin^-s. 

The President then remarked, that iL was understood that the 
members of the Old South should remain quiet, tind give ]irece- 
dence to our invited guests. But the company may think that it 
is quite time for them to hear from our young pastor. 

We ought, perhaps, to premise, that we have taken him not only 
from the schools, at home and abroad, but also from what we 
deem no disparagement, a former Chaplaincy in the army of volun- 
teers. For while we did not seek a minister to "preach politics," 
we should.be sorry, especially in the present state of the country, 
to have one who could not \idvy \\i^-dv\'\\\ pray pntriotism. Under 
such impressions the following sentiment is olfered. 

10. Our Pastor: 

The last, best draft from New Haven ministers. He has been 
unanimously accepted ; claiming no exemption from duty to his 
people, his God and his countr\'. 

The Eev. Edward A. Walker, the minister of the First Parish, 
said that it was the first time he had ever addressed a Massachu- 
setts audience on such an occasion. That the recital of our local 
history for the century past, possessed great interest for him; 
while the great and beneficent events in the history of our country 
fbr the same period, embracing the birth of our republic and an en- 
largement of its liberties, gave promise of a coming century-, more 
glorious, if we do our duty, than that which is past. 

As to army life, while it had its incidental disadvantages and 
dangers, it served to awaken energy and develop character, and to 
make men more tolei'^ant of each other. 

The Chair then adverted to the fact, that after the iucorpora- 
e 



tion of the County of Worcester in 1731, the Old South monopo- 
lized nearly nil the offices of the Probate Court. The first Judge 
of that court was John Chandler of Woodstock, Conn., then regard- 
ed as within the state of Massachusetts. He was succeeded in 
the Probate office by his son and his grandson of the same name, 
residents of Worcester, and the great benefactors of the Old South. 
To them succeeded the first Governor Lincoln of the same Parish, 
but subsequently one of the founders of the Second Parish. 
In allusion to these facts, the Chair gave as a sentiment, 

11. The Probate Office of Worcester County: 

Though it has got out of the lino of the Old South, it has not 
departed from the line of duty. 

The Hon. Henry Chapin of the Church of the Unit}^, and Judge 
of the Court of Probate and Insolvency, responded with his nsual 
tact and eloquence on festive occasions, and amongst many other 
good things, jjaid a befitting ti'ibute of commendation to puritan 
persistence and patriotism. 

The presence of the Kev. Rush R. Shippen, minister of the 
Church of the Unity, had been invited, but the committee were 
disappointed by his absence on account of severe indisposition. 

As the third child of the Old South, the Chair then gave as a 
sentiment, 

12. The Union Society : 

May it prove the union of all who profess and call themselves 
christians, and bring forth fruit meet for repentance. 

The Rev. Ebenezer Cutler, the minister of the Union Society, 
responded very appropriately, stating that at the formation of his 
society in 1835, about three-fifths of its members were drawn from 
the Old South, and two-fifths froni the Central Society. He con- 
cluded with a tribute of affection and respect for the Old South, 
with an earnest aspiration that it might long remain the exponent 
of their common piety and faith. 

The President then said, that those of us who had been brought 
up in the schools, would recollect with what pleasure we had read 
in the euphonious original, of " the voice of one crying in the will 
derness." In these latter days we have no St. John preaching in 
the wilderness J but true as it is strange, we have an eloquent one 
preaching in this city. To prove this, we need only call upon the 
Rev. T. E. St. John, the minister of the Universalist Church. 



67 

Mr. St. John ans-\vered the call with alacrity and much elo- 
quence. Amongst other things he said that he regarded it as 
his duty to deal with the present. That in the manhood of the 
times, he saw the fruit of the religion of our fathers, and that the 
spirit of New England still lingers around the old places. That it 
is our duty to push forward the New England spirit of aggression 
against all bad things ; and he saw in the struggle of the war^ 
freedom and religion contending with caste and tyranny. He 
closed, expressing his happiness that the puritan Old South church 
led off so well in the recognition of the brotherhood of all working 
in the cause of God. 

Sentiments respectfully referring to the second and third Bap- 
tist Societies were proposed, inviting responses from the Eev. 
David Weston, the minister of the former, and the Rev. Joseph 
Banvard, the minister of the latter societj''. But the lateness of 
the hour and the absence of Mr. Banvard, deprived the company 
of the pleasure they would otherwise have enjoyed in hearing from 
those gentlemen. 

The committee of invitations received from Mr. Banvard the fol- 
lowing note : 

Boston, Sept. 21, 1863. 
Gentlemen : — 

I exceedingly regret that the funeral of one of my family, 
will prevent me from participating in your pleasant services. 

May the Lord preserve you another century, and bless you more than a hun- 
dred fold. 

I refer you to the Rev. Dr. Pattison, if any rej^ort is desired from the third 
Baptist Church. 

Affectionately Yours, 

JOSEPH BANVARD. 

The Rev. Robert E. Pattison, D. D., Principal of the Oread Insti- 
tute, having retired from the table, in lieu of his remarks, has 
kindly allowed us to avail ourselves of his testimony as to the hon- 
orable and christian reconcilement that took place between the 
venerable James Wilson, the father of the first Baptist Church, 
and the Rev. Dr. Austin of the Old South. Dr. Pattison was the 
son-in-law of Dea. Wilson, and his testimony is equally creditable 
to his own christian feelings, and to the memory of two good and 
prominent men, who, from a temporary estrangement on earth, 
have now both gone to enjoy perpetual harmony in Heaven. 



68 

Speaking of an interview had between Dr. Austin and Dea. 
Wilson, Dr. Pattison says that " previous to this interview, and 
as they understood each other better, there had been springing up 
not onl}' between the two godlj* men, but between their families, 
a kindl}' feeling which at a later period ripened into respect and 
affection. Amongst the families who most honored Dr. Austin as 
a ] ublic nmn and pastor, were those who became the sincere per- 
sonal fiiciids of Dea. Wilson and his family. So much is due to 
truth and goodness." 

After complimentary sentiments to the ladies and the choir, the 
company rose, and all joined in the air consecrated to social 
enjoj-ment, Avid Lnng Syne, and then adjourned to re-assemble in 
Mechanics Hall, at 7J o'clock in the evening. 

Uur fi'iends from abroad, and members of other parishes in the 
cit}- were cordially invited to attend the free social rc-union, to be 
held at that time and place. 



RE-UNION AT MECHANICS HALL. 



Mechanics Hall was well filled at an early hom* in the evening, 
and the exercises were much enlivened by the presence and per- 
formances of the Worcester Cornet Band. 

In front of the platform was a cabinet of ancient relics and 
curiosities, illuminated from the chandelabra of Mrs. Maccarty, 
and pertaining to the history of the Old South Church, which 
attracted much attention. 

Amongst these was the small octavo Bible left by the Eev. Mr. 
Maccarty, in which texts preached from by him are carefully 
marked and very numerous. This Bible was published at Edin- 
burg in 1736, with Eouse's version of the Psalms subjoined, it 
being the version of the Psalms allowed by the Kirk of Scotland 
in 1645. 

Mrs Maccarty's wedding apron and silver snuif box. 

Watch left by Eev. Mr. Maccarty. 

Pictures of 1694, from Cornelius Stowell, one of the earliest 
settlers in Worcester. 

Calico and handkerchief printing blocks, used by his son, 
Peter Stowell, said to have been of the timber of the old meeting 
house that stood on the same spot where the present Old South 
stands. 

A book, entitled " The Certain Blessedness of all those whose 
sins are forgiven," (1721,) from Dea. Nathan Perrj', grandfather of 
the present Dea. Samuel Perry, with the cane left by that worthy 
patriarch, &c., &c. 

The President introduced the exercises of the evening with the 
remark, that it was expected that the Salem Street Church, the 
youngest of the Congregational order in the city, should pay 
their respects to the Old South, if not as distinctively their 



TO 

mother, at least as their eldest sister j and he called upon the Kev. 
Merrill Jiichardson, their minister, to answer for them. 

Mr. JRiehardson responded with charaeteristie eloquence. 

He excepted to the designation of churches as the "jouno;. 
est" and "eldest," and to the allusion to the men of 1763 
as ancient and venerable, and those of the present time as young. 
He thought Adam the youngest man of his race, because he had 
the least knowledge and experience in life. Those who had 
lived since were older, because they had the advantage of his 
thoughts and experiences. In this sense, each age was older than 
the preceding, and his church was the most venerable of any of 
those that had been alluded to. He concluded, speaking of the 
law of pi'ogress in mankind, and urging the responsibility resting 
upon us, to hand down to posterity all the light we may have 
elicited, with added lights derived from those who have gone 
before us. 

The Chair then read the following sentiment, alluding to the 
Eev. John ^Nelson, D. D., the senior minister of the First Parish 
in Leicester, settled there in 1812. 

13. The First Parish in Leicester : 

We gave tkem one of the most able and honored clergymen in 
the Commonwealth ; — they have paid the debt by the constancy 
and respect with which thej^ have sustained him. 

In lieu of a personal response, the committee of invitations 
received the following interesting letter from Dr. Nelson : 

To Caleb Daxa, Esq.. axd Gentlemen of the Committee : — 

It is hard, very hard for me to deny myself the pleasure of taking a 
part in, or even being present at your Centennial celebration on the 2 2d of 
September. It is still harder to resist the kind solicitations of friends to be, at 
least, present. 

Buo I assure you gentlemen, that with a knowledge of my infirmities I feel 
I must decline venturing at all on an occasion which I know would to me be 
dangerously exciting. 

I am glad the inability I have to plead is of the physical and not the moral 
kind which the good minister of my youth, the Rev. Dr. Austin taught me 
was the kind to which criminality was attached. 

My presence, if with you, I am aware could do little more than furnish a 
somewhat rare antiquity for the occasion. I could tell you of little else than of 
the vivid impression I received of your venerable church edifice at the age of 
twelve years, when I first saw what seemed to me a massive structure, with its 



71 

porch ou main street ; its tall steeple and tlie bird wliich I believe is still 
perched on the top. 

I could tell you also of what I saw within — first of all, underthe stairs, a pair 
of stocks, formidable looking instruments, indicating that I had gotten into a 
place of some danger. I remember seeing Richard Knight seize the bell rope, 
and with his hands fast upon it, swing himself off from the first turn in the ban- 
isters in order to give it a vigorous motion. 

I remember the high pulpit and the sounding board over it which I often 
feared would fall upon the minister's head ; — and then the large square Pew 
at the front of the pulpit, occasionally one or two aged men in it, that they 
might get a little nearer the high elevation from which the word was sounded out 
— also the pews, generally with the seats on hinges to be raised when the people 
rose for prayer, for the people then did stand up before the Lord. I remember 
too, and who that heard it does not remember ? the unearthly clattering made 
by the fall of the seats when the people sat down or heard the last Amen. 

Nor do I forget the choir, lead by Lawson Harrington, nor the bass-viol nor 
the violin played by Samuel or Elisha Flagg, nor the good old tunes as Corona- 
tion, Russia, Majesty, Ocean, with their Fugues, in which the several parts came 
round in grand style by a sort of masterly military evolution. 

Certainly, I do not forget the venerated minister, Rev. Samuel Austin, D.D.; 
tall, muscular, with a countenance solemn and somewhat austere — whose 
preaching was highly doctrinal, able, earnest and often eloquent, and whose 
prayers were I'emarkable for their fervency. 

To the church and society worshipping in your ancient edifice I feel myself 
bound by ties of no ordinary strength. My connections with the church as a 
member goes back more than sixty years. There I worshipped in my youth. 
There my family have worshipped and what remain still worship. There my 
venerated father performed the duties of a church officer. The pulpit I have 
often occupied and always been most intimate and cordial with the successive 
ministers and people. 

Although absent in the body, my whole spirit is with you on this joyful occa- 
sion. Your noble church edifice is daguerreotyped on my memory and heart. 
I love it as it is and ichere it is. Worcester would cease to be Worcester with- 
out it. May it remain for other centennial celebrations, and for generations to 
come, be filled with devout worshippers. 

Very truly yours. 

JOHN NELSON. 
Caleb Dana, Samuel A. Porter, James Estabrook, Wateimian A. Fisher, 

Richard Ball. • 

Leicester, September 19, 1SG3. 

In expectation of the presence of both, Dr. Nelson and the Hon. 
Enior}' Washburn of Cambridge, the following sentiment was 
prepared but not announced. Mr. Washburn was a native of 



'>Q 



72 

Leicester; — removed to Worcester and became a distinguished 
■^j lawyer here, and in 18G4 was Governor of the Commonwealth. 
He is now one of the Professors in the Law School of Harvard 
University. 

14. A fair exchange : 

Worcester gave to Leicester one of the best ministers; and 
Leicester gave Worcester one of the best lawj'ers, in the Com- 
monwealth. 

The committee received a note from ex-Governor Washburn 
accepting their invitation, and expressing great regret that a mis- 
take as to the day of the occasion, had deprived him of the pleas- 
ure of attending. 

The Cliair then alluded to a Eev. and learned gentlemen of 
Worcester, from whom the committee had derived great aid in 
collecting historical materials for the occasion, and intimated that 
still further drafts for his services would probably have been 
made, were it not for his impaired e^'e-sight. The following sen- 
timent was offered : 

15. The health of the Rev. George Allen: 

Distinguished for his antiquarian learning; for his kind offices 
to the Old South Church, and for his valuable recollections and 
knowledge of its history. 

The Rev. Mr. Allen responded to this sentiment with rare tact 
and interest. He controverted the antiquarian views of the Kev. 
Mr. Richardson, and held with the late learned and excellent 
Judge Wilde, that much of the modern light was nothing but a 
reflection from ancient luminaries. His recollections of the Old 
South Church and all that pertained to it, were remarkable for 
their vividness and accuracy. His testimony as to the talents 
and character of the Rev. Dr. Austen, was in entire agreement 
with that of ex-Governor Lincoln. 

The next sentiment was to 

16. The memory of Rev. Aretius B. Hull: 

Amongst the most grateful and cherished memories of the Old 
South Church and Parifli. 

The Rev. Joseph D. Hull of Hartford, son of the Rev. Aretius 
B. Hull, responded ver}'- appropriately to this sentiment, noticing 
particularl}' his early recollections of his honored father. (See 
post, note 14.) 



The President then gave as a sentiment, 

17. The memory of the Eev. Thaddeus Maccarty. 

Worthy of being F4)ster(i^ by all ; especially by his distinguished 
posterity. 

The company were gratified by the presence of two of the 
great granddaughters of Mr. Maccart}-, Mrs. Alfred D. .Foster, 
and Mrs. Henry Iv. Newcomb ; and the committee received 
from the Hon. Dwight Foster, the Attorney General of the Com- 
monwealth, and great-great grandson of Mr. Maccarty, the fol- 
lowing letter : 

Worcester, 2\st SeiJt. 1863. 

Messrs. Caleb Dana, &c., &c., Committee of the First Parish, 

Gentlemen : I thank you very sincerely for remembering me among 
your invited guests to the Centennial Celebration to-morrow, and regret that 
imperative professional engagements will deprive me of the pleasure of being 
present upon an occasion of so much interest to all who love the history and 
traditions of our city. 

I cannot forget that I o^ve the honor of this invitation to the fact that I am 
one of the descendants of a clergyman who was for thirty-seven years pastor 
of the church in Worcester, the memory of whose ministry is still cherished. 
The venerable minister, who had baptised the children, married the young 
people and buried the dead for more than a generation, came at length to have 
an authority and sustain a sacred relation of which comparatively few ex- 
amjiles now remain. I trust it will not be regarded out of place for me to 
express th6 hope that the gentleman whom you have recently chosen with such 
cordial unanimity, and who comes to his parochial charge in the freshness and 
vigor of early manhood may continue — as did my sainted ancestor — in 
acceptable and fruitful ministration over your church and society as long as his 
life is spared to labor in his Master's service. 

I am, gentlemen, very respectfully, your friend and servant, 

DWIGHT FOSTER. 

The Committee also received the following letter from the Eev. 
Eobinson P. Dunn, Professor of Ehetoric in Brown University, 
pleasantly indicating his relationship to the family of the Eev. Mr. 

Maccarty. 

Providence, Sept. 18th, 1863. 

Messrs. C. Dana. S. A. Porter, J. Estabrook, W. A. Fisher, and R. 

Ball, Committee on Invitations. 

Gentlemen : I thank you for your invitation to mj^self and wife to 

attend the Centennial Celebration of the First Church and Parish of Worcester. 

Mrs. Dunn, who is now in W., will do herself the pleasure to be present. I 

shall be detained by my duties in Providence. I regret this very much, as in 

addition to the satisfaction I should have in joining in your services and fes- 

10 



tivities, I should welcome any opportunity of uniting with you in a tribute of 
respect to the memory of that former pastor of the church, with whose family 
my marriage gives me the honor of a connection. 

Hoping that the coming anniversary, gathering up into itself the memories 
and results of a century, may give to your church and society an impulse 
which shall not have been spent when your successors shall celebrate the Bi- 
centennial, 

I am, gentlemen, yours respectfully, 

R. P. DUNN. 

The Chair then read a sentiment complimentary to the two sur- 
viving ex-ministers, the Eev. Kodney A. Miller, and the Eev. Hor- 
ace James. 

18. The Ex-Ministers of the Old South Church. 

We respectfully salute him who is a resident in our midst; and 
gratefully remember him who is absent in the service of his 
country. 

The Eev. Mr. Miller was absent on a visit to his native place, 
Tro}^ N. Y., and upon his return home, he expressed much regret 
at the circumstance thtit i)revented his presence at our centennial 
anniversary. 

The Eev. Mr. James being absent with his regiment at New- 
bern, N. C, sent to the committee on invitations, the following 
interesting letter : 

Newbern, N. C, Sept. 18, 1863. 
•Dear Brethren : 

I have often said to my friends that if I lived to spend the year 
1863 in the " Old South," I would try to gather together all the survivors of 
that ancient church, with their friends, and hold in that venerable edifice a 
commemorative festival. 

In the providence of God, my pastorate ceased near the beginning of the 
year, and my cherished purpose failed of being realized. 

Not so the plan. It has fallen into abler hands, and will, I doubt not, be 
carried out on the 22d inst. with appropriate rites and observances. Of this 
the names of the committee appended to the cii'cular of invitation are a suffi- 
cient guarantee. 

As a member of the First Chiu-ch in Worcester, and for nearly ten years its 
pastor, I feel the liveliest interest in all its affairs. The memories of my min- 
istry in it are fresh and fragrant. I am like an unweaned child, and turn 
towards the dear old church as my mother still. I pray for its peace. I seek 
its prosperity. I am jealous of its reputation, and grateful for its shelter as my 
ecclesiastical home. 

At least until the closing days of this eventful national struggle, and the for- 



75 

mtion, on my part, of some new pastoral connection, I ask a place, -with my 
dear wife, upon your annual catalogue, an occasional remembrance in your 
prayers, and a home in your hearts. 

That I cannot be at the " Centennial'' is a keen disappointment to me. 

The profound historic research which will characterize the address of my 
learned brother who is your chosen organ on the occasion, I shall not wholly 
miss ; for the press will preserve, and the mail transmit to me the Centennial 
Address. 

But the solemn grandeur of the proposed reunion, the tender memories 
it will revive, the heart-throbs, the hand-graspiugs, the loving words which will 
be spoken, the sparkling wit and rallying repartee which may be expected to 
give point and pith and pathos to the services and festivities of the occasion — 
all these I must forego. I should enjoy them intensely, but at the present time 
my duty lies another way. 

At this distance from my native home, banished from books, shut out from 
libraries, and acting almost wholly in the practical, living world, it will be im- 
possible for me to add one item to the historic wealth of your Centennary. 

It will however be an addition to the valuable material out of which the hon- 
orable record of the Old South Parish is to be compiled, that it furnished one 
pastor who patriotically stood by the country in the trying days of the Ameri- 
can Revolution, and another who was among the first to take the field when the 
liberties of the people were again betrayed and imperiled. It will always give 
eclat to the fine old house of worship, that now touches upon three centuries of 
time, that the immortal Declaration of Independence was first promulgated to 
the citizens of the town of Worcester fi'om the top of one of its antique por- 
ches ; and we hope that it may be considered in future years an honor no less 
distinguished, that this church gave to the country in her hour of need, a Pas- 
tor, a Superintendent of the Sabbath School, and a score or two of brave men 
to stand in the ranks where the leaden hail fell thickest, and the thunder of war 
v.'as loud. 

I believe that the ministry of the First Church has always been a patriotic 
ministry, and the congregation a loyal and patriotic people. 

Young Curtis and Estey, members of the 25th Regiment, now sleeping in 
death, once belonged to your Sabbath School, and were attentive hearers of 
the word from your pulpit. They are among the valuable sacrifices you have 
made to maintain the integrity and glory of our land. 

They fell too soon for affection, but not too early for renown. Their names, 
with others who may be associated with them before the end shall come, might 
well be inscribed upon a Marble Tablet in the dear old edifice, to be transferred 
to its successor when itself shall crumble before all devouring time. 

Of my ten years administration of the pastorate among you, it is fit that oth- 
ers should speak rather than myself. I only claim for my ministry that it was 
exercised in honesty, earnestness, and fi-eedom. Its fruits were more than I 
deserved, fewer than I hoped for. 



76 

On the -whole I look hnck npon those ten j'ears, more shaded -with personal 
sorrow than any equal j^eriod of my life, with feelings of devout and grateful 
thanks"iving ; as one chastened and not killed ; as sorrowful yet always rejoic- 
ing ; as poor yet making many rich ; as having nothing and yet possessing all 
things. 

May the tenderness of that affection with which, from first to last, you have 
reo-arded me and mine, make happy the life and labors of my beloved succes- 
sor, and be in the history of the church, like 

"Another morn 
Risen on midnoon," 

bringing it nearer and even nearer to the glory of God and the Lamb. 

I have left the " Old South" to help make a 7ieiv South. The providence of 
God has plainly pointed out to me this service, and laid it, unchosen and un- 
sought, upon my shoulders. Nor will I shrink from the undertaking. 

I believe in it, as the most important duty of the hour. Amid humble labors, 
under reproach and scorn, the indifference of some and the opposition of not a 
few, I am charged with the work of laying anew the foundations of society in 
regions Avhere it had wholly fallen to pieces. Be it my effort to build up the 
social structure not " as it was," but as it sJiould he ; not on the old principle 
of an aristocracy which is essentially hostile to a republic, tends to rebellion 
and revolution, and can never Ise propitiated, but must either o'er master the 
government or be destroyed. — but on the principle of personal freedom com- 
pensated labor and natural rights, secured to all by constitutional and local 
law. Class power and Individual power are now in deadly conflict. Oligar- 
ch]/ has its clutch upon the throat of Democracy. 

The keenest blade with which our government can defend itself is the Presi- 
dent's proclamation of freedom ; the only banner under which it can success- 
fully fight is the flag of our Union. The contest is not doubtful, unless public 
integrity, patience and faith shall fail. 

If you, dear friends ; if this great American people are true, the liberties of 
this Republic are secure, and every thing is safe. But if the People falter or 
the President recants, then all is lost. 

I ask pardon for the length of my communication. I could willingly say 
more, but not easily less. May the fine old structure under the shadow of 
which you are met to celebrate the feast of ingathering at the end of a hundred 
years, witness on the 2 2d. a rarer assembly and be the scene of a holier convo- 
cation than it ever summoned before. 

May the children throng around that hallowed altar with an eager interest 
to learn the story of its ancient renown from the lips of the venerable men that 
yet survive to bless and guide their youth. Let christians kneel upon its pave- 
ment with a fresh devotion, while they thank God for the beauty, stability and 
glorious order of his holy sanctuary. Let them walk about our favored Zion, 
and go round about her. Let them tell the towers thereof. Let them mark 



77 

well her bulwarks, and consider her palaces ; that they may tell it to the gene- 
rations following. For this God is our God forever and ever^ He will be 
our guide even unto death. 

And as you sit in your heavenly j^laces, and are rapt in angelic song, or 
glow with the ardors of devotion, turn we pray you, a look of tenderness towards 
your brethren in the camp, your companions on the battle-field, your children 
on the sea, your spiritual offspring in the ends of the earth. And, with the 
combined benedictions of a century whispering from every beam and timber of 
the honorable place wherein you stand, make proclamation to all your absent 
kindred in Christ, saying in God's name, We bless you out of the house of the 
Lord.\ 

With truest love and fidelity, I remain, 

Dear Brethren and friends, devotedly yours, 

HORACE JAMES. 
To Caleb Dana, Samuel A. Porter, James Estabrook, W. A. Fisher and 
Eichard Ball, Committee on Invitations. 

The Chair then alluded to the Eev. William Barrows of Bead- 
ing, Mass , as a yoiing clergyman, formerly connected with the 
Old South, and much respected and cherished in Worcester. 

Mr. Barrows denied the impeachment of being young, but felt 
honored by his connection with the Old South church thirty years 
ago, in one of the best speeches of the evening ; giving his recol- 
lections of Worcester, he demonstrated that he must have a 
remarkable memory, if a very young man. 

The Eev. W. E. Huntington, the young Eector of All Saints 
Church, being absent on foreign travel, and the Eev.^Samuel S. 
Spear, of Boston, his worthy substitute, having retired from the 
Hall, the following sentiment, alluding to a distinguished member 
of that communion, was handed to the chair by one of his respect- 
ed colleagues. 

19. All Saints Church : 

The fathers of the Old South were not able, like the Jews, to 
offer one hundred bullocks at the dedication of ^/lefr temple; but 
Ail Saints is able to offer one, on this occasion, worth more than 
all of them. 

The sacrifice not forthcoming, the following letter from the 
Hon. Alexander H. Bullock to the Chair, Avas offered as a substi- 
tute : 

My Dear Sir: I had expected to be present at your festivities. to-day, in 
commemoration of the years and honors of the Old South, but an unexpected 
engagement which I cannot control, requires me to be absent. 



78 

I pray yoti to assure your brethren parishioners of the respectful and cor- 
dial sympathy which, if present, it would be my pleasure to express in my 
own behalf and for the society with which I am connected. I have lived too 
long in this town to be iudiiFerent to the annals and traditions of your vener- 
able and consecrated parish, associated as it is with all that is pure in morals, 
or inspiring in patriotism, or elevating in social life. As a citizen of Worces- 
ter I claim to share in the benefits and renown which her historic names have 
conferred upon this community, and it is my misfortune not to be able in per- 
son to make known more fully my respect for all that has been done by the 
Old South to endear her to every inhabitant. Permit me to say that I rejoice 
with you in the new lease of life and prosperity which the ancient parish now 
takes under the pastorate of him who has recently been called to minister at 
her altar. May her light be perpetual ! 

I am, sir, faithfully yours, 

ALEX. H. BULLOCK. 
Hon. Ira M. Bartox, Prest., &c., &c. 

A letter was also received by the Committee from the Eev. 
Eufus A. Putnam, of Pembroke, N. H., stating that a little over 
half a century ago, he was a resident of Worcester, and 'Micard 
the prayers and teachings of the venerable Dr. Austin." He 
expressed great interest in the Celebration, to which he was in- 
vited, and invoked the blessings of God upon the church and peo- 
ple for many centuries to come. But the feeble state of his health 
would forbid his presence on the interesting occasion. 

The Chair respectfully alluded to the Methodist Churches, 
which though comparative!}' of recent origin, were among the 
most numerous and useful in the citj^. Their pi-esence having 
been invited through their clergj'^men, the following sentiment was 
given, alluding to their oldest church and the nearest neighbor to 
the Old South. 

20. The Park Street Church : Like 

"Siloa's brook, that flowed 
Fast by the oracle ot God." 

May the flow of its healing waters be perennial. 

The pleasure of a response to this sentiment from the Eev. Dan- 
iel E. Chapin, the minister of the Park Street Church, was proba- 
bly prevented by the lateness of the hour. 

In the course of the evening, Mr. George Hobbs, 2d., an intelli- 
gent 3^oung gentleman of the parish, read a poem, concluding 
with the following pleasant apostrophe to the Old South Church. 



79 

A century now gone ! How chang'd 
'The scene where once the quiet hamlet lay, 
And thou, with regal right, then reign'd 
Supreme. But time, art, progress, sped the day 
That triumphed in a City's birth : 
And now her mantling structures tow'r 
High o'er the scene, and scarce of worth 
Save thee, stands vestige of primeval hour. 

Long in thy pristine glory stand ; 

Thy clock true vigil keep ; thy bell long peal 

For worship pure, and through the land 

Still louder, longer, sound our country's weal. 

Peace be within thy walls ; and 'round 

Thee blessings still ; let Sabbath's first sweet rays 

Long kiss thy spire, and gospel sound 

Speed on thee, brighter, halcyon days. 

The company were gratified at the presence of the Rev. David 
Perr}^ of Brookficid, Vt., the Rev. Clarendon Waite of Eatland, 
respected sons of the Old South ; the Rev. J. D. E. Jones, the Super- 
intendent of the City Schools, and the Rev. Samuel Souther, the 
former City Missionary; and in closing the interesting exercises 
of the occasion, the sole regret was, that the lateness of the hour, 
ten o'clock, deprived the company of the pleasure of hearing from 
many of the invited guests. 

The Band played the air of " Sweet Home," and the company 
slowly retired, feeling and saying that they had enjoyed a good 
and profitable season. 



HISTORICAL NOTES 



The late William Lincoln Esq., in his History of Worcester, 
published in 1836, gave a full and foithful account of the First 
Parish and its meeting house, and Charles Hersey, Esq., has 
recently published a new edition of that valuable work, with a 
supplement.* The work has been extensively circulated in this 
community, and the Committee, therefore, appointed for the pur- 
pose, have confined their attention mainly to such additional facts, 
as have fallen within their reach. 

1. The Model of our Old South. — We are under renewed obliga- 
tions to the Eev. George Allen, of Worcester, for a reference to 
the Histor}^ of the Old South Church in Boston, by the Rev. 
Benjamin B. Wisner, D. T>., the former pastor, published in 1830. 
That church was first occupied for public worship, April 26, O. S. 
1730. And it appears from a plan of the interior of it, accom- 
panying the historical notes of Dr. Wisner, that the Old South 
of Boston was almost an exact model of the Old South of Wor- 
cester, erected thirty-three years afterwai'ds. This fact may 
detract from the credit of the Worcester architects for originalit}', 
but certainly not for good taste, for both churches were amongst 
the most comely and convenient of their day. 

2. Original Owners of the Pews. — Before the attention of the 
Publishing Committee was called to the plan annexed to the 
work of Dr. Wisner, they had thought of publishing a copy of 
the ancient plan of the interior of our church referred to by the 
President in his introductory remarks ; but they are dissuaded 
from doing so, by a consideration of the inconvenience of pub- 

11 



82 



lishing the requisite folio sheet to accompany a book, especially in 
the pain])lilet form. And tliey content themselves, and hope to 
satisfy the public, b}- giving a handsome frontispiece, exhibiting a 
northwest view of the exterior of their church, and the following 
list of the original proprietors of the sixtj'-one pews on the floor. 
It is proposed by the Committee of Arrangements, to suspend 
their plan referred to, upon the walls of the Chapel, so that by a 
reference to it, the location of the pew of any origiiial proprie- 
tor, ma}' be readily seen. 

Names of the Original Peicholders in the First Church in 
Worcester. 

John Chandler, Esq., 
Jacob Hemingway, 
Daniel and Abel Hey- 

wood, 
Francis Harrington, 
Elisha and Robert 

Smith, 
Josiah Harrington, 
Robert Barber, 
Daniel Ward, 
Tyrus Rice, 
Daniel McFarland, 
James Putnam, Esq., 45 
James McFarland, 
Gershom and Comfort 

Rice, 
Jonathan Stone, 
Jacob Chamberlin, 
Joshua AVhitney 
Elisha Smith, Jr., 
Nathaniel Moore, 
John Curtis, 



3. Location and materials of the House. — After much delay, the 
definite location of the " new Meeting House" was fixed by the 
following action of the town. 

" At a Town meetiivj held at the meeting House in Worcester after due loarning 
onrje \8lh Maij, 1763." 

" Upon the fifth article in the warrant relative to the alteration of the Place 
for the New Meeting House the Question being put if the Town would give or- 
der for setting Sd House on ye Gravelly Knole between Mr. Putnams and the 
Burying Place and it passed in the negative. Thereupon 

Voted — that the Comittee for Building the New Meeting House, as soon as 
may be pull Down the Old Meeting House and save what stuff they can, and 



18 


Thomas Stearns, 


44 


Joseph Blair, 




59 


17 


Isaac Gleason, 


24 


John Mower, 




36 




Nathan Perry, 


10 


Isaac Moore, 




58 


19 


Josiah Brewer, Esq., 


54 


Thomas Parker 


) 


37 


16 


John Boyden, 


43 


Ezekiel How, 




27 




Samuel Miller, 


25 


John Chandler, 


Esq., 




20 


Joseph Clark, Jr., 


9 


assignee of 


Asa 




15 


Luke Brown, 


53 


Flagg, 




7 


21 


Daniel Boyden 


42 


Samuel HSnt, assignee 


14 


James Goodwin, 


53 


of Thomas Cowden 


28 


13 


Thomas Rice, 


38 


John Mahan, 




6 


49 


Matthew Gray, 


56 


Timothy Paine, 


Esq. 


33 


45 


John Chaddick, 


39 


Nathaniel Adams, 


1 


48 


Benjamin Flagg, 


55 


John Chandler, 


Esq., 


32 




David Bancroft, 


40 


Gardner Chand! 


ei', Es 


q.,2 


46 


William McFarland, 


54 


Samuel Mower, 




31 


47 


Samuel Curtis, 


41 


James Brown, 




3 


22 


Josiah Pierce, 


46 


Jacob Holmes, 




30 


12 


James Nichols, 


8 


Thomas Wheeler, 


4 


23 


Robert Gray, Jr., 


61 


Israel Jenison, 




29 


11 


Ebenezer Lovell, 


34 


John Chandler, 


Esq., 


5 


51 


Jonathan and David 


Town's pew, 




50 




Fisk, 


60 










Asa Moore, 


35 









83 

that the New Meeting House be sett on ye spot where the old one stands, as 
may be convenient, and that the new House Front ye Country Road. Former 
votes of the Town in March, 1762, Notwithstanding." 

" Voted, That the sd Comittee Hire a suitable Number of men to Raise the 
New meeting House in the cheapest manner they can, and that there be no 
Public Entertainment." ^ ' 

[A copy of the record, 

Attest, SAMUEL SMITH, City Clerk.] 

Though the building Committee -svere prudently instructed to 
save what stuff they could from the Old Meeting House erected in 
1719, it is not probable that much of it was wrought into the new 
House. It is a reliable tradition that the principal part of the 
timbers for the new House was taken from the woods extendin"; 
south, southeast from Washington Square, in the direction of Union 
HiH. It is said, however, that some was obtained from Tatnuck 
and other quarters. 

The timbers of the House are very large and substantial. This 
fact accounls for the remarkable state of preservation in which we 
now find it. Whoever sees the exposed timbers of the attic, will 
cease to wonder that the town directed the committee to em- 
ploy picked men for the raising, and the}' will also be pi-epared to 
credit the tradition, that it became necessary to invite men 
from Boston, with their appropriate mechanical tackle, to aid in 
the work. 

It appears that the old House was demolished without much 
ceremon3^ Soon after the erection of the new House, the records 
of the town show that the remaining materials of the old House 
were sold at auction, and it is not known that a fragment of them 
now exists, except the printing blocks of Peter Stowell, before 
referred to. 

So intent were the men of Worcester in their enterprise forget- 
ting up a new Meeting House, that the}^ appear to have lost no 
time in the manifestation of regret at the loss of the old one, which 
had been consecrated by their devotions for more than forty 
years. Not so with the fathers of the Old South in Boston. Fri- 
day, the 28th of P'ebruary, O. S., 1728-9, they observed as a day of 
fasting and prayer, on the occasion of taking down their old 
Meeting House, erected in 1669, and erecting a new, and the pres- 
ent House, on the same ground. Their senior pastor, the ''good 
Dr, Sewall," informs us in his journal, that " the day was observ'd 



84 

as a day of prnyr, by the South Chh. and congregn., to humble 
ymsclves before ye Ld. and ask his presence in ye difficult and 
momentous affi^ir in wch j^y are engag'd, A. M., Mr. Foxcroft be- 
gan with pra3'r. P. M., Mr. Coleman. A. M., Mr. Prince, [his col- 
league] ])reach'd fi'om Sam. 3. 41. I proach'd P. M. from Ps. 127. 1. 
I hope we had ye tokens of Gr's gracious presence with us. Ye 
congregation generally attended, and many others with j'm. I 
hope G. enabled me, in j^ublic and private, to look earnestly to him 
ys day. O L'd. hear, forge' and doe as the matter may require." 

4. First Occupancy of our Church. — The President cautiously 
said in his introductory remarks that it did not appear that our 
Old South was ever formally dedicated; implying a doubt wheth- 
er there could have been such a variance from modern usaffe. 
when almost qvcyj public structure ia dedicated, whether sacred 
or profane. But Dr. Wisner asserts that the Boston Old South 
" was not dedicated in the manner now practiced, but was first oc. 
cupied on the Sabbath April 26, — corresponding to May 7, N. S. 
1730." So that the omission of a formal dedication of our Old 
South in 1763 appears to be sanctioned by the usage of the age 
in which it was erected. 

The similarity of manner in which religious services were first 
held in the old South of Boston, and the Old South of Worcester, 
is worth noticing. Dr. Wisner says that on the day of the first 
occupancy of the Boston Old South, " Mr. Sewall preached in the 
morning from Ilaggai, 3:9. " The glory of this latter House shall 
be greater than the glory of the former, saith the Lord of hosts ; 
and in this place will 1 give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." In the 
afternoon, Mr. Prince jireached from Psalm 5:7. 'As for me, I 
will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy ; and in 
thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.' " 

The Eev. Mr. Maccarty on the first occupancy of his Old South, 
preached from 1. Chronicles, 29 : 16, 17. " O Lord, our God, all this 
store that we have prepared to build thee an house for thine holy 
name, cometh of thine hand, and it is all thine own." 

"I know, also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast 
pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine 
heart, I have willingly offered all these things : and now have I 
seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly'- 
unto thee." 



85 

5. Addition to the Material History of the CJmrch. — It was the 
design of the President in his inti'oduetory remarks, to give a 
succinct material history of the Old South. Upon recurrence to 
them, but little, essential to such a history appears to have been 
omitted. But for the sake of completeness, the Committee add 
from Lincoln's history the facts, that the present bell of the 
Church was cast by Kevere & Sons of Boston, in 1802. It weighs 
1975 pounds, and bears the inscription, 

" The living to the church I call, 
And to the grave I summon all.'' 

May its first delightful service be long continued ! It has been 
relieved from its last solemn service, ever since the year 1856, 
under the mayoralty of the Hon. Isaac Davis. 

The clock in the bell tower was made by Abel Stowell in 1800. 

The blinds were put upon the the windows of the Church, at 
the time the alterations were made in 1828. 

6. Decorations of -the Church on the Anniversary — In addition to 
those alluded to by the President, were a fine painting of the 
Eev. Mr. James, with miniature likenesses of all the other minis- 
ters of the parish, since the days of the Rev. Dr. Austin. It was 
a matter of much regret that none of Dr. Austin could be found. 
We find in the fact, proof of modern improvement of taste, in 
preserving those works of art, to aid in the recollection of absent 
or deceased friends. The likenesses referred to were susjoended in 
front of the galleries upon each side of the pulpit. 

Suspended from the drapery in the rear of the pulpit, was an 
oblong floral design, with an evergreen ground, festooned at the 
lower edge. In the centre, wrought with the white blossoms of 
the life everlasting, were the conspicuous figures 1763., At the 
front corners of the pulpit, were placed two bouquets. These 
works of art were the productions of a j^oung gentleman of the 
congregation. 

7. Music onthe Occasion. — The order and style of the music on 
the occasion, was the conception of Edward Hamilton, Esq., the 
former talented Director of the Old South choir. It was a 
dramatic history of Church Psalmody ; and without any previ- 
ous concert upon the subject, very aptly illustrated the remarks , 
of Dr. Bacon. 

The in'actice of singing '' in the usual way," by lining off to 
the congregation, by the deacon, prevailed in Worcester till 1779. 



86 

But vre are informed by Dr. Wisner in his history of the Old 
South in Boston, that the change in singing there, from the 
usual to the rulable way, took place in 1768, five years before the 
erection of our church. It appears, therefore, that the reform 
was ahout twenty j^ears in travelling from Boston to Worcester; 
no more than what we should expect in the tardy locomotion of 
things spiritual as well as material at that period. 

It is worth}^ of notice, that the change took place at the Old 
South in Boston, on the Sabbath on \yhich Dr. Sewell delivered a 
funeral discourse, on the occasion of the death of his venerable 
colleague, Dr. Prince, who died December 22d, 1758. On that 
occasion '' the Kevisal of the Psalms," by Di*. Prince was first 
introduced in public worship. Dr. Wisner states in a note to his 
history, at page 31, "that it appeared from the records, that the 
pi-actice of reading and singing line by line had been continued 
till this time ; in commencing the use of the Pevisal, it was, by a 
vote of the Church, discontinued." 

The vote referred to was by the Church and congregation, as 
follows : " Thatyese Psalms be sung without reading line by line 
as has been usual, except on evening lectures .and on e:Araordi- 
nary occasions w'n ye assembly can't be generally furnished with 
books." 

Though this change in the mode of conducting church music, 
was not fully effected in Worcester till 1779, jQt it is true as 
stated by Dr. Bacon in his discourse, that strenuous efforts were 
made by the people in that direction for many j-ears before. 

The committee deem it proper to remark, that the quaint hymn, 
rendered after the manner of 1763, was received by the large con- 
gregation standing and facing the pulpit, with the utmost gravity 
and propriety. And as to the choice and beautiful concluding 
hymn, suggested b}" the analogy of the occasion to the century 
plant, and rendered b}^ the organ and full choir, in the approved 
manner of modern church music, it need only be said, that it 
inspired the admiration of all who heard it. 

8. The Organ.— The introduction of the organ in 1846, is an 
era in the mu.sical history of the Old South. Previous to that 
time the choir had been aided by powerful ''stringed instru- 
ments," as humorously descrihed by the Rev. Dr. Nelson in his 
letter to us. But since the introduction of the organ, thebig bass 



8T 

viol and its smaller stringed accompaniments, have all disappeared, 
and, although scarcely twent}- years have elapsed since the change, 
they are now sought only as relics of antiquity, to be brought 
forth oil some centennial occasion. As such they were brought 
forth at our anniversary, in illustration of church music at the 
commencement of the present centurj'. And old " Northfield,"in 
its pahniest days, was never enacted with its fantastic fugues, iu 
more effective style. 

At an earl}' period, the puritanical sects had strong religious 
scruples about introducing any instrumental music in their devo- 
tions. And one respectable sect, the six principal Baptists, that 
settled in Bristol County, in the Plymouth colon}^ and the neigh- 
boring parts of Ehode Island, according to Backus in his Church 
History, did not allow, previous to the Amei-ican Ecvolution, any 
music in their religious meetings. And thej' hence received the 
designation of" anti-singing Baptists." But the scruples as to the 
use of instrumental music in church services, was much more 
pervading. And it is noticeable that the controversy upon that 
subject in this country, was flagrant when the Old South church 
was built in 1763. • 

Whatever may have been the original merits of this contro- 
versy, so far, at least, as the organ is concerned, that has received 
a unanimous verdict u) its favor. And the charming poet of the 
"Seasons," has chanted its triumph, in one of his sweetest strains : 

" Yet Chief for -svliom the whole creation smiles ; 

At once the head, the heart, the tongue of all ; 

Crown the great hymn ! In swarming cities vast. 

Assembled men, to the deep organ join 

The long resounding voice, oft breaking clear, 

At solemn pauses, through the swelling base ; 

And as each mingling flame increases each, 

In one united ardor, rise to heaven." 

Some allusion to this controversy seemed proper in a notice of 
the changes that have taken place in the churches of puritanical 
origin. And we close this notice, b}^ a letter npon the subject, 
from the learned and obliging Librarian of the American Anti- 
quarian Societ}'' . 

Hox. Ira M. Bartox, 

Dear Sir : — I enclose the memorandum I mentioned respecting the discus- 
sions on the subject of church music. It seemed to me that the year 1763 was 



88 

tlie beoinuing of a new era in relation to the use of instruments in public wor- 
ship, more particularly organs, of which two were ordered, I think, for Phil- 
adelphia in that year by the Episcopalians. 

Very truly yours, 

S. F. HAVEN. 

In the year that the Old South meeting house in Worcester was erected, 
(1763) a pamphlet was printed in Philadelphia, entitled '' The Lawfulness, 
Excellency, and Advantage, of Instrumental Music in the Public Worship of 
God, urged and enforced from Scripture, and the example of the far greater 
part of Christians in all ages." "By a Presbyterian." 

The writer says, '' I shall not wonder if the attempt I am making towards 
introducing the use of instrumental music into the worship of those societies 
who have hitherto been taught to look upon such as unlawful and unscriptural, 
should be attended with the same opposition with the promulgation of the gos- 
pel itself." He states that St. Paul's church, Philadelphia, is the only Eng- 
lish congregation in that Province that has an organ. 

The writer's zeal seems to have been excited by the opposition he anticipated, 
and he makes the most of scriptural sanction. He tells us that long before 
the flood Jubal followed the making of organs as a trade ; and that at the 
dedication of Solomon's temple the great Concert of Praise was enlivened with 
" an hundred and twenty trumpets, assisted by a proportionable number of 
other kinds of musical instruments — among which we may rest assured the 
well toned organ found a place." 

This pamphlet not only exhibits the general opposition that prevailed against 
the use of or^-ans and other instruments of music in churches at that date, 
1763. but also indicated the beginning of a movement among congregational- 
ists in favor of their introduction. 

So late as 1786, " A Tractate on Church Music, " extracted from Price's 
Vindication of Dissentors, was reprinted in Loudon under the sanction and 
recommendation of the celebrated Dr. Price and Dr. Kippis, and inscribed to 
Rev. Dr. Chauncey and Rev. Mr. John Clark, of the First Congregational 
Church in Boston. 

This tract, which is a very learned one, goes profoundly into the usages of 
the ancient churches, and undertakes to prove that the use of musical instru- 
ments in the Christian church receives no sanction from antiquity. The Hom- 
ilies of the Church of England are quoted as bearing testimony against them ; 
and it is stated that Luther " reckoned organs among the ensigns of Baal." 
That musical instruments were allowed and -even prescribed in the worship of 
the Jews is admitted, but they are regarded as holding the same place with 
many of the ceremonials which were " condescended " to that people on 
account of their weakness and childishness. 

9. Versions of the Psalms used at the Old South.— The Psalm sung 
by the choir in the " usual way " of 1763, was a version of Psalm 



89 
103, verses 17 — 22 ; which, in our common English Bible, is as 

follows: 

17. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting 
upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's 
children. 

18. To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember 
his commandments to do them. 

19. The Lord hath prepared his throne in the heavens, and his 
kingdom ruleth over all. 

20. Bless the Lord, j-e his angels, that excel in strength, that do 
his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word. 

2L Bless ye the Lord, all ye his hosts ; ye ministers of his that 
do his pleasure. 

22. Bless the Lord, all his works in all places of his dominion : 
bless the Lord, O ray soul. 

The following is a literal copy of the version of the above 
psalm by Richai-d Mather of Dorchester, and the " Apostle Eliot," 
and his colleague, the Eev. Mr. Welde of Eoxburj', found in the 
library of the American Antiquarian Society. It was published 
in 1640, and was " printed by Steeven Daye at our Cambridge " 
Dr. Thomas, in his Histor}- of Printing, saj's it was the first book 
printed in this country; though printing had been introduced 
before in some parts of Spanish America : 

" But yet Gods mercy ever is 

shall be & aye hath been 
to them that fear him ; aud's justice 

unto childrens children. 

To such as keepe his covenant, 

that do in miiide up lay 
the charge of his commandement 

that it they may obey. 

The Lord hath in the heavens hye 

established his throne 
and over all his Royallty 

doth beare dominion. 

O yee his Angells that excel! 

in strength blesse yee the Lord 
that doe his word, that harken well 

unto the voyce of 's word. 
B 



90 

All yee that are the Lords armies 

bless Jehovah still: 
& all ye ministers of his 

his pleasure that fulfill. 

Yea all his Avorks in places all 

of his dominion, 
blesse yee Jehovah : my soul, 

Jehovah blesse alone." 

This version appears not to have commended itself to universal 
favor. The muses were probably not over propitious to Eiehard 
Mather, and the learning of Eliot in tlie Indian languages, would 
not be likely to improve his English versification. The Rev. Mr. 
Shepard of Cambridge, reflected rather cavalierly upon the rever- 
end authors in the following stanza: 

Ye Roxbury poets, keep clear of the crime 

Of missing to give us very good rhyme ; 

And you of Dorchester, your vei'ses lengthen, 

But with the text's own words you will them strengthen. 

Perhaps we ought to make amends for giving currency to this 
aspersion upon the poetic character of Eiehard Mather, and for 
that purpose, we give the favoring testimon}- found in the epitaph 
on his monument in the ancient graveyard in Dorchester: 

" Divinely rich and learned Richard Mather, 
Sons like him, prophets great, rejoic'd this father. 
Short time his sleeping dust's here's covered down, 
Not so his ascended spirit or renown." 
" Ob. Apr. 22, 1669, iEtatis suae 73." 

And to prove that the New England version of the Psalms was 
as good as other poetry of the day, wc give the contemporaneous 
epitaph of Major General Atherton, found in the same gravej^ard : 

Here lyes ovr captaine and maior of Svffolk was withall 
A godly magistrate was he and Maior Generall 

Two trovfs of hors with hime here came such worth his love did crave 
Ten companyes also movrning marcht to his grave 
Let all that read be svre to keep the faith as he hath done 
With Christ he livs now crown'd his name was Hvmphry Atherton. 
He dyed the 16 of September, 1661. 

In 1650 the New England version was revised and improved by 
President Danster of Harvard College find Mr. J^iohard Lj-on j 
and Dr. Thomas says the same passed through fifty editions. 



$1 

The degree of perfection to which the version had arrived in 1762, 
\vill iippear by reference to the specimen on page 54, lined off to 
the conoregation in the Church. 

The version of 1758, by the Rev. Di-. Prince, he states to have 
been " an endeavor after a yet nearer approach to the inspired 
original as well as the rules of poetry." 

Dr. Prince subjoined to his revisal, a few of the spiritual songs 
of Dr. Watts ; but he could not tolerate the poetic license taken 
by him in his version of the Psalms. 

The complete English version of the Psalms by Tate and Brady, 
was published by ro3-al permission, in 1698, and the same is now 
in use in the English Church, and by the Protestant Episcopal 
Church in the United States. Their version of the portion of the 
1 yd. Psiilm referred to, may readily be seen bj' turning to the 
Common Prayer Book, and it is not here inserted. About the 
time of the erection of the Old South Church, the version of 
Tate and Brady superseded the New England Psalm and Hymn 
Book.* 

The version of the Psalms by Tate and Brady continued in use 
in our Church till the year 1790. 

The adoption of the version of the Psalms by Dr. Watts, and of a 
church creed, signalized the commencement of the administration 
of the Eev. Samuel Austin. By his influence the change in the 
psalmody of the Church appears to have been effected without 
controversy. But ex-Gov. Washburn, in his history of Leicester, 
says, that the version of Watts was not generally adopted till 
after the revolution, " and then, onl}- after a long and violent 
struggle." And the Hon. James Draper, in his history of Spencer, 

*For this fact we have the authority of Mr. Lincoln, who probably derived 
it from the records of the Church which he had in his hands while compiling 
his valuable history ot Worcester. Those records, from 1716 to 1816, have 
most unfortunately been mislaid or lost. Should this note lead to their discov- 
ery, it will .save a very valuable source of local church history. 

Mr. Lincoln's testimony is corroboi-ated by the fact that in 1762 an edition 
of the version of Tate and Brady was published in Boston, with an "appendix 
containing a number of hymns taken chiefly from Dr. Watts' Scriptural Col- 
lection ;" that a well-worn copy of that edition has come down from Mr. Mac- 
carty to his great granddaughter, Mrs. H. K. Newcomb ; and that in 1788, an 
edition of the same work was published in Worcester by Isaiah Thomas, 
indicating that the version was then in demand in this county. 



92 

informs ns, that in 1761, the church and congrcc^ntion of that 
town met and voted on the chiimsto favor of the different authors 
of church psalmody, with the result of thirty-three for Sternhold 
and Hopkins, fourteen for Dr. Watts, and six for Tate and Brady. 
But the author adds that in 1789, " the good taste of the people 
prevailed," and the psahnsand hymns of Dr. Watts were adopted. 
The following is his version of the portion of the 103d Psalm 
above referred to : 

" But his eternal love is sure 

To all the saints, and shall endure ; 

From age to age his truth shall reign, 

Nor children's children hope in vain. 

The Lord the sovereign King 

Hath fixed his throne on high ; 
O'er all the heavenly world he rules 

And all beneath the sky. 

Ye angels great in might, 

And swift to do his will. 
Bless ye the Lord whose voice ye hear. 

Whose pleasure ye fulfill. 

Let the bright hosts who wait 

The orders of their King, 
And guard his churches when they pray, 

Join in the praise they sing. 

While all his wondrous works 

Through his vast kingdom show 
Their Maker's glory, thou my soul, 

Shalt sing his praises too." 

While we accord manifest poetic improvement in the version of 
Dr. Watts, we are impressed with the conviction, that no mere 
poetic rh^'me nor measure can equal, in point of beauty and 
sublimity, the common version of the Psalms in our Scriptures. 
And we record with satisfaction, the fact, that, in our Church, the 
chanj^g of the Psalms is approved and increasing. 

The version of the Psalms now used in the Old South, was set 
forth in 1845 by President Day, Dr. Bacon, and others, in behalf 
of the General Association of Connecticut. It generally follows 
Dr. Watts; but some of tlie Psalms, and the greater part of the 
subjoined collection of hymns, are taken from other authors of 
sacred poetry. 



98 

10. Public Reading of the Scriptures. — Mr. Lincoln states in 
his History of Worcester, at page 179, that " The public reading 
of a lesson from the scriptures, as a stated portion of religions 
service, was not introduced into New England until near the mid- 
dle of the last century ;" and that "the following extract from the 
records of the church, shows the period when it was first com- 
menced here." 

" 1749, Sept. 3. Voted that thanks be given by the pastor, 
publicly, to the Hon. John Chandler, Esq., for his present of a 
handsome folio bible for the reading of the scriptures, which laudable 
custom was very unanimously come into by the church, at one of 
their meetings sometime before." 

The small bible, with texts noted, before referred to, in the cabi- 
net of relics at Mechanics Hall, (from which our pastor read the 
scriptures on the day of our anniversary), is of small octavo size, 
and bears intrinsic evidence of having been much used by Mr. 
Maccarty in his pulpit. But what appears to have been regarded 
as a munificent bequest of the scriptures by Judge Chandler, in 
the folio form, no doubt provoked greater attention to the delight- 
ful part of church services, that consists in reading the scriptures. 
And all that can properly be inferred from the record of the 
church is, that the Eev. Mr. Maccart}^, with his small octavo Bible, 
was not able to read conveniently so much as his people desired, 
and their brother Chandler liberally provided the means for grati- 
fy'ing their wishes. Certainly it should not be inferred that there 
had been any previous aversion to the reading of the scriptures in 
their public religious services ; but rather to the contrary. 

It is remai-kablo that the order taken by our Old South in 1749, 
for the public reading of the scriptures; finds its precedent in a 
corresponding order taken by the Old South in Boston, in 1737. 
According to the Eev. Dr. Wisner, in a note to page 30, of the 
history of his church; ''April 24, 1737, the brethren of the chui-ch 
staj^'d, and voted, that the hoi}'- Scriptures be read in public after 
the first pray'r, in the morning and afternoon ; and that it be left 
to the discretion of the pastor, what parts of Scripture to be read, 
and what to expound," 

Upon this record Dr. Wisner remarks, " that this was doubtless 
the introduction of the reading of the Scriptures in public worship 
in the congregation ; our fathers having long abstained Irom the 
commendable practice, to be, in this respect as in others, as differ- 



94 

ent as possible from the Church of Engl^and, which requires the 
Scriptures to be read, and prescribes the portions for every service." 
It woald falsify historj- to saj' that the colonists had not strong 
prejudices against the ceremonials of the Church of England. 
Their legislation against Christmas, the most highly cherished 
festival of the English Church, strongly attests to that fact. But 
still the record of the Boston Old South, and the argument or 
rather the assertion of Dr. VVisner, come far short of proving that 
the colonists were averse to the principle or practice of reading 
the Scriptures in public worship. They only induce the belief that 
any prejudices the colonists may have had upon the subject, rela- 
ted not to the reading of the Scriptures, but to the forms of read- 
ing prescribed in the English Liturgy. But however that ma}'- 
have been, the enlarged religious charity of the age, and an abate- 
ment of the imposing cei'emonials of the English Church by its 
successors in this country, quite disarm the prejudices, if any ever 
existed, in the way of a liberal public reading of the Scriptures, 
by all sects that profess and call themselves Christians. 

11. The Ministers of the Parish. — As under the laws of this 
Commonwealth, ministers are recognized as holding an important 
official relation to the parish as well as to the church, some notice 
of the successive incumbents of our pulpit, will not onlj- be proper 
but expected. This notice, though complete, must necessarily be 
short, and for the materials of it we are largely indebted to the 
Manuel of the Church, published in 1854. 

It would be an agreeable service to speak of the life and chai'ac- 
ter of the incumbents of our pulpit, but the limited extent of 
these notes does not admit it. We can here only add a few 
additional facts from which others may perform the grateful ser- 
vice, making reference to Mr. Lincoln's History of Worcester, and 
to the " Worcester Pulpit," by the late and lamented Eev. Dr. 
Elam Smalley, pastor of the Union Church, who died at Troy, 
N. Y., July 30th, 1854. 

1. The Eev. Andrew Gardner was the first ordained minister 
of Worcester. He was a native of Brookline, Mass. — graduated 
at Harvard College in 1712 — was settled at Worcester in the 
fall of 1719, when a meeting house was erected on the present 
site of the Old South ; and was dismissed by a mutual council, 
Oct. 31st, 1722. The Eev. Peter Whitney, in his histofy of the 



County of Worcester, states that Mr. Gardner was afterwards 
settled at Lunenburg, from whence "he moved up nigh to Con- 
necticut river, in New Hampshire, whei'e he died in a very 
advanced age." 

2. The Eev. Isaac Burr, the second minister of Worcester 
was born in Faii'field, Conn, in 1698 — graduated at Yale College 
in 1717 — was ordained Oct. 30th, 1725 — was dismissed, upon 
the advice of a mutual council, in March, 1745, and afterwards 
removed to Windsor, Vt. 

3. The Eev. Thaddeus Maccarty was born in Boston in 1721 
— graduated at Harvard College in 1739 — was ordained at King- 
ston, Plymouth county, Nov. 3d, 1742, where he ministe^'ed three 
3'ears, and was installed at Worcester, June 10th, 1747, where he 
died July 20th, 1784. 

4. The Eev. Samuel Austin was born in New Haven, Nov. 7th, 
1760 — graduated at Yale College in 1784 — was installed as 
minister of the First Parish in Worcester, Sept. oOth, 1790 — was 
elected President of the University of Vermont in 1815, retaining 
a nominal relation to the Chui'ch and' parish in Worcester — was 
dismissed Dec. 2od, 1818, and died at Glastenbury, Conn., Dec. 4th, 
1830. 

5. The Eev. Charles A. Goodrich was born in Berlin, Conn. — 
graduated at Yale College in 1815 — was ordained at Worcester 
as colleague with the Eev. Dr. Austin, July 15th, 1816 — was dis- 
missed at his own request, Nov. 14th, 1820, and died at Hartford, 
Conn., June 4th, 1862. 

6. The Eev. Aretius B. Hull was born at Woodbridge, Conn. 
Oct. 12th, 1788 — graduated at Yale College in 1807 — was or- 
dained at Worcester, May 22d, 1821, and died there May 17th, 
1826. (See note 14.) 

7. The Eev. Eodney A. Miller, born at Troy, N.Y. — graduated 
at Union College in 1821 — pursued his course of theological 
studies at the Princeton Seminary, N. J. — was ordained at 
Worcester, June 7th, 1827 — was dismissed by a mutual council, 
April 12th, 1854, and now resides in Worcester. ' 

8. The Eev. George Phillips Smith of South Woburn, (now 
Winchester) Mass., w^as born at Salem, February 11th, 1814 — 
graduated at Amherst College in 1835, and at the Audover Theo- 
logical Seminary in 1840 — was installed at Worcester, March 
19th, 1845, and died at Salem, Sept. 3d, 1852. 



96 



9. The Rev. Horace James of Wrentham, Mass., was born in 
Medford, May 6th, 1818 —graduated at Yale College in 1840 — 
pursued a course of theological study at the New Haven and 
Andover Seminaries — was installed at Worcester Feb. 3d, 1853 
— was appointed chaplain of the 25th regiment of Mass. Volun- 
teers, in Oct. 1861 — was dismissed, at his own request, Jan. 8th, 
1863, and now retains his connection with the army. 

10. The Eev. Edward Ashley Walker of New Haven, Conn, 
was born at that place Nov. 24th, 1834 — graduated at Yale 
College in 1856 — pursued his theological course at New Haven, 
and the universities of Heidelburg and Berlin — was installed at 
Worcester, July 2d, 1863, and is now the minister of the First" 
Parish and pastor of the Church. 

12. Deacons and Members of the Church. — Though deacons 
sustain no relations to the parish, other than that of prominent 
raembei's of it, yet as they are officers of the church, and recog- 
nized legal trustees of the same, we here note their 



Names. 
Daniel Heywood, 
Nathaniel Moore, 
Jonas Rice, 
Thomas Wheeler, 
Jacob Chamberlain, 
Samuel Miller, 
Nathan Perry, 
Thomas Wheeler, 
John Chamberlain, 
Leonard Worcester, 
David Richards, 
Moses Perry, 
John Nelson, 
Lewis Chapin, 
MoseS Brigham, 
Nathaniel Brooks, 
Nahura Nixon, 
John Bixby, 
Richard Ball, 
Allen Harris, 
Jonas M. Miles, 
Caleb Dana, 
Samuel W. Kent, 
Charles A. Lincoln, 
Caleb Dana, 



1716, 

li 

January 14, 1748, 

.1 i( u 

December 16, 1751, 

November 5, 1783, 

November 15, 1791, 
October 19, 1797, 
November 23, 1801, 
June 18, 1807, 
April 16, 1812, 
January 30, 1833, 

U ii it 

August 5, 1836, 

a ii il 

September 30, 1836, 
September 17, 1845, 
October 1, 1845, 



Death. 
April 12, 1773, 
November 25, 1761, 
September 20, 1753, 
February 1, 1769, 
March 17, 1790, 
September 9, 1759, 
February 14, 1806, 
January 12, 1795,, 
May 31, 1813, 
May 28, 1846, 
January 29, 1829, 
March 12, 1842, 
January 14, 1834, 
Resigned. 
Resigned. 
November 3, 1850, 
August 27, 1850, 
July 14, 1853, 

Resigned. 
Resigned. 



Age. 
79 
84 
81 
73 
71 
81 
88 
66 
68 
79 
78 
80 
72 



53 

62 
81 



April 4, 1851, 
January 2, 1861, 
February 1, 1861, 
Clerk. Richard Ball, 



Treasurer. 



Number of members of the Church, 557t 

13. The Solid Men of Worcester in 1763. — The original sixty-one 
pews on the floor of the Old South, were valued at from nine pounds 



97 

to four pounds ten shillings each. Then the choice in the pews 
was given to the inhabitants, in the order of the amount of taxes 
paid hy them respectively upon their real estate. An order of 
preference, one would suppose, better suited to the latitude of 
feudal Old England, than tliat of her Province. By the repeated 
and gratuitous kindness of our City Clerk, we give a complete 
list of those feudal lords of Worcester, in 1763. A comparison of 
this list with the list of the pewholders given in note 2, will show 
that they do not entirely coincide; showing also, that the tax 
payers did not always avail themselves of the right of pre-emp- 
tion which the vote of the town gave them. 

*' At a Town Meeting held at Worcester, on ye 14th Day of Dec'r., 1763, 
one o'clock Afternoon, at ye Meeting House, by Adjournment from ye 12th of 
S'd. Month," 

" Voted, that the Pew No. 18 be granted to ye Home Stead Farm of ye late 
Hon'ble. John Chandler, Esq., in consideration of his Donation towards Build- 
ing S'd. House." 

" Voted, That ye following persons have their Choice of Sd. Pews, & in ye 
Order following, viz : — John Chandler, Esq., Daniel & Abel Heywood, Thom- 
as Stearns, Samuel Mower, Josiah Harrington, Gershom & Comfort Rice, Eli- 
sha & Robert Smith, Nathaniel Adams, Jg-mes Brown, Jacob Hemingway 
Israel Jennison, Joshua Biglo, Francis Harrington, John Chandlers Mill 
Farm, Gardiner Chandler, Esq., Nathaniel Moore, John Curtis, Jonathan 
Stone, John Chaddick, Elisha Smith, Jun'r., Tim'o. Paine, Esq., Daniel Ward, 
John Boyden, Thomas Rice, Jacob Holmes, Joshua Whitney, Joseph Clark, 
Junr., Jacob Chamberlin, James Goodwin, Thomas Cowden, [Ebenezer Flagg,] 
Robert Barber, Ezekiel Hoiv, James Putnam, Esq'r., Tyrus Rice, Mathew 
Gray, Isaac Gleason, Nathan Perry, Thomas Wheeler, Daniel McFarland, 
David Bancroft, Samuel Miller, Daniel Boyden, Benjamin Flagg, William 
McFarland, Luke Broivn, James Nichols, Josiah Peirce, Amos Wheeler, Asa 
Flagg, Ebenezer Lovell, Samuel Curtis, Josiah Brewer, Esq'r., Thomas Par- 
ker, Asa Moore.'' 

A copy of the record, — 

Attest, — Samuel Smith, City Clerk. 

14. The Rev. Aretius B. Hull. — There has probably been no 
clergyman of the Old South Church, that is remembered with 
more affectionate respect than the Eev. Mr. Hull. And the pres- 
ence of his two sons, the Eev. Joseph D. Hull of Hartford, and 
Aurelius B. Hull, Esq., of Brooklyn, JST. Y., was amongst the pleas- 
ant incidents of our anniversary occasion. Their father died at 



98 

Worcester while they were children, after a very happy adrainis- 
tration of five years. He was, at fii:st, buried in the Mechanic 
street burying ground, but his remains were afterwards removed 
to the Worcester Ilural Cemetery, and interred in the lot of Dr. 
John Green, on the east side of the " South Avenue." Dr. Green, 
with his accustomed liberalit}^, not only gave the site for the 
pious use, but co-operated with the parishioners of Mr. Hull, in 
erecting over his grave a substantial marble monument. 

On the morning of the anniversary, before the exercises in the 
Church commenced, the two sons, with very becoming filial devo- 
tion, in company with a friend, visited ihe grave of their father, 
with the assurance that upon their return home, they should pay 
like respect at the grave of their mother in New Haven. 

Eat the principal object in introducing this note is, to place on 
record, the epitaph on Mr. Hull's monument, which, we believe, 
has never been printed. The Worcester Eural Cemetery was 
incorporated in 1S38. But we are not aware that the inscriptions 
upon the monuments and headstones in that beautiful cemetery 
have ever been published. The epitaph on the monument of Mr. 
Hull, was dictated by his friend and parishioner, the late Samuel 
Jennison, Esq. It is remarkable for what does not always char- 
acterize the literature of epitaphs, truth and good taste. 

THIS MONUMEXT 
IS ERECTED TO COMMEMORATE 
THE FAITHFUL SERVIOES, AXD THE VIRTUOUS 
• EXAMPLE OF THE 

Rev. ARETIUS BEVIL HULL, 

MINISTER OF THE FIRST 

CONGREGATIONAL SOCIETY IN WORCESTER. 

HE WAS BORN AT WOODBRIDRE, CONN. 

OCT. 12, 1788; 

GRADUATED AT TALE COLLEGE IN 1807, 

WHERE HE WAS SIX YEARS A TUTOR ; 

AND WAS ORDAINED IN WORCESTER, 

MAY 22, 1821. 

HE DIED MAY 17, 1826, AGED 38. 



He endeared himself to the people of his charge by his affectionate and 
assiduous devotion to his miuisteriiii and pastoral duties ; while the suavity of 
his manners, the purity of his life, and the sincerity and earnestness of his 



99 

efforts in advancing the cause of education, and in the promotion of the gen- 
eral interests of the community, commanded its respect and gratitude. 

He was a scholar of refined taste and the style of his discourses was unusu- 
ally chaste and perspicuous, earnest and direct, harmonizing with the tenor of 
his life, and rendered j-et more impressive, during the greater part of his 
ministry, by his conscious and evident nearness to the grave. 

Accustomed to the best forms of polished life, he was dignified without dis- 
play, and courteous without dissimulation ; constantly manifesting in his 
private intercourse and his public labours, that for himself and others, he 
sought first the Kingdom of Heaven. 

" Cautious himself, he others ne'er deceived, 
Lived as he taught, and as he taught, believed." 

15. Settlement and Support of the Ministry. — In both the Colo- 
nial and Provincial grants of land for plantations and towns, it 
was cn'stomary to insert an express condition, to insure the set- 
tlement of a •■' learned and orthodox minister." But in the case of 
Worcester, the grant of about eight miles square, was placed in 
the hands of a prudential committee, who were enjoined to take 
due care that <' a good minister of God's word be jjlaced there, as 
soon as may be; that such people as may be there planted may 
not live like lambs in a large place." 

In the case of Worcester, therefore, a trust was substituted for a 
condition. The original committee appointed in 1668, were Capt. 
(afterwards General) Daniel Gookin, Capt. Thomas Prentice, Mr. 
David Henchman and Lieut. Pilchard Beers, or three of them, 
of whom Capt. Gookin should be one. At the subsequent 
efforts to settle the town, committees were appointed under a 
similar trust, which proved equally effective as a condition. 

Upon the attempt to re-settle the plantation in 1684, the Com- 
mittee, of whom Major Gookin was still Chairman, enjoined the 
proposed proprietors, " to take care to provide a minister with all 
convenient speed; and a schoolmaster in due season; and in the 
interim, that the Lord's da}^ be sanctified by the inhabitants 
meeting together thereon, to worship God as they shall be [able]." 
Upon the final and effectual organization of the Committee in 
1713, under the administration of Governor Dudley, the same 
providence was manifested for the ministry and schools. 

But before that time, in 1692, the Provincial Legislature took 
those subjects in hand, and, by "An Act for the settlement and 
support of Ministers and Schoolmasters," established the law in 
relation to the support of ministers, substantially as it remained 



100 

for more than a hundred years. And as that time embraced both 
the period of the erection of the Old South Church in 1763, and of 
the incorporation of the second parisli in 1787, it becomes materi- 
al to the proper understanding of both those events in our eccle- 
siastical history. 

The following is the Act reierred to, it being the 4. Gul. et Mar. 
1692. 

" Sect. 1. Be it ordained and enacted by the Governor, Coun- 
cil and Kcpresentatives, convened in General Court or Assembly, 
and by the authority of the same, that the inhabitants of each 
town within this province shall take due care, from time to time, 
to be constantly- provided of an able, learned, orthodox minister 
or ministers of good conversation, to dispense the Word of God 
to them, which minister or ministers shall be suitably encouraged 
and suflRciently supported and maintained by the inhabitants of 
such town. * * * And where there is no contract and agree- 
ment in any town respecting the support and maintenance of the 
ministry, or when the same happens to be expired, and the inhabi- 
tants of such town shall neglect to make suitable provision there- 
in, upon complaint thereof made unto the quarter sessions of the 
peace for the Count}^ where such town lies ; the said Court of quar- 
ter sessions shall, and hereby are empowered to order a competent 
allowance unto such minister, according to the estate and ability 
of such town, the same to be assessed upon the inhabitants by 
warrant from the court, directed to the selectmen, who are there- 
upon to proceed to make and proportion such assessment in man- 
ner as is directed for other public charges, and to cause the same 
to be levied by the constables of such town, by warrant under the 
hands of the selectmen, or of the town clerk by their order." 

<< Sect. 2. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that 
when any town shall be destitute of a minister qualitied as afore- 
said, and shall so continue by the space of six months, not having 
taken due care for the procuring, settling and encouragement of 
such minister, the same being made to appear upon complaint unto 
their majesties' justices at the general sessions of the peace for the 
county, the said court of quarter sessions shall, and hereby are 
empowered to make an order upon every such defective town, 
speedily to provide themselves of such ministers as aforesaid, by 
the next sessions at the farthest ; and in case such order be not 



101 

complied with, then the the said Court shall take effectual care to 
procure and settle a minister qualified as aforesaid, and order the 
charge thereof, and of such minister's maintenance, to be levied 
upon the inhabitants of such town." 

Under this law the Church of the first parish, or rather of the 
town was erected, at the common charge of the inhabitants, with- 
out any respect to their different religious opinions, if such' existed. 
The legislation proceeded, upon the principle always recognized 
• by the colonists, that the civil power might enforce the perform- 
ance of a religious duty. The support of the ministry and of 
schoolmasters, was placed upon the same ground and by the same 
legislative act. 

By the Constitution of the Commonwealth adopted in 1780, it 
is a remarkable fact, that while provisions for the support of pub- 
lic schools were left to the discretion of the legislature, it was pro- 
vided in the third article of the Bill of Eights, that " the legisla- 
ture shall, from time to time authorize and require the several 
towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious 
societies, to make suitable provision, at their own expense, for the 
institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and 
maintenance of public protestant teachers of piety, religion and 
morality, in all cases where such provision shall not be made vol- 
untarily." 

The principles of the provincial act of 1692, so far as the same 
related to the support of the ministry, were thus incorporated 
into the constitution of 1780. In view of such a state of the 
law, we shall cease to be surprised at the tenacity with which a 
majority of the town in 1787, held upon their brethren who were 
incorporated as a second parish. The new parish embraced a 
respectable portion of the tax payers of the town ; and we can 
account for the resistance to their secession, without imputing to 
the majority any unusual perverseness. By incorporating the 
second parish, the legislature, no doubt, acted like wise and just 
arbiters between the parties. They proved that they were wiser 
than the laws under which they acted. As said by the learned 
author of the Discourse, it was an early step in the progress of 
reform towards religious freedom ; but it was not the consumma- 
tion of it. 

By acts passed in the years 1800 and 1811, provision was made 



102 

for exemption from taxation for parish purposes by a town or 
senior parish, by filing a certificate of the tax pa^-er's membership 
in some other religious society. This was all the legislature could 
do, under the requirement of the third article of the Bill of 
Eights. But still the requirement of such certificates of mem- 
bership, to exempt from taxation, was a perpetual source of irrita- 
tion between diffei'ent religious societies as well as individuals. In 
1833, an amendment of the constitution was adopted relieving the 
legislature from the obligation of requiring towns, &c., to provide* 
for the support of the ministry, and at the first session of the 
legislature, after the adoption of that amendment, the final act of 
religious freedom was passed, which placed the support of religious 
worship upon a purely voluntary basis, a provision that is now 
incorporated with the general laws of the commonwealth. 

The effect of this change in the policy of the laws for the sup- 
port of public worship, is such as the promoters of it anticipated. 
Some unfortunate individuals escape from the performance of the 
moral duty of supporting public worship. But society has been 
compensated tenfold, by the greater harmony and prosperity that 
has been superinduced by the voluntary system of support; and 
few, if any, desire a return to the compulsory * 

16. The Common — now Central Park. — As the First Parish have 
such an interest in the Comtnon, or Central Park, as is necessarj- 
for the enjoyment of their Meeting house, some notice of the his- 
tory of that ground seems to be appropriate. 

The first allusion to the reservation of such a ground, is found 
in the doings of the committee having in charge the settlement of 
"a new plantation about fourteen miles westward from Marl- 
borough, near Quinsigamond pond, at a meeting in Cambridge, 
July 6th, 1669." 'Present, Daniel Gookin, Esq., Capt. Thomas 
Prentice, Mr. Daniel ilenchman. 

Mr. Lincoln, in his history, states that the record of the doings 
of the committee, at the commencement of our proprietary book, 
is in the hand writing of the " venerable Gookin." The 12th 

* It is proper to state, that the Chairman of the committee of publication is 
responsible for this note. As a member of the committee on the judiciary in 
the Senate of 1834, he reported the bill referred to, entitled, " An Act relating 
to Parishes and Religious Freedom," and the same may be found in his 
hand writing, on the files of the General Court for that year." 



lOS 

article of their doings, is as follows . " That there bee a pjpse 
reserued in comon neare the center of the towne convenient for 
that purpose, about tv;cnt_y acres for a trayning plase and to set 
a scoole house upon : as neare as nfay bee where the meeting 
house shall be plased." 

No survey of this reservation appears, but there is no doubt 
it embraced not only the present Park, but the ground to the 
north of it, extending over Mechanic street, to the meadow on 
Mill brook, it was, indeed, neare the site of the first meeting 
house, which was situated contiguous to the present residence of 
George A. Trumbull, Esq., on Green street. 

The subsequent records recognise the existence of the Common 
— the appropriation of a small portion of the east side of it as a 
burial ground, and, in 1719, the erection of a meeting house on 
the west side of it, upon the site of the present house. 

In 1732, the proprietors appointed a committee to make a sur- 
vey of the common land by the meetinghouse, and in 1734, the 
committee made return as by a copy of the subjoined record ap- 
pears. 

[Extract from the Proprietors' Records.]. 

Pursuant to a vote of the Proprietors of the Comon and undivided land 
in the south part of Worcester, May the lYth, 1732, appointing us a Commit- 
tee to return a plat of the Comon Land by the Meeting House in Worcester, 
having surveyed the same find eleven acres and one hundred and fortv rod in- 
cluding the Burial place and the road thro' the said Comon is Bounded as de- 
scribed in this platt herewith returned & survey by Benj'a. Flagg. 

All of which is submitted to the Proprietors by us. 

Moses Eice, 
Worcester, Nov. 3d, 1734. Thos. Stearns, 

Benja. Fi.agg, Ju'r. 
A cojDy of the record. 

Attest,— Samuel S.mith, City Clerk. 
Worcester, Nov. 30, 1863. 

It will be seen that the dimensions of the common as thus ascer- 
tained, are not nearly so large as those originally contemplated by 
the committee of the proprietors, for a training field and school 
house. A reference to the plan returned by the committee in 
1734, indicates that the western boundary of the Common was 
just as it is now, by the " country road," or Main street, and the 
boundaries upon the south and east do not appear to have been 
much difterent from what they are now, by Park and Salem 
streets. But upon the north line of the Common, as found in 



104 

17S4, a great change in the boundary has been made. At that 
time, judging from the platt returned by the committee, the north 
boundary of the public Common and school land, coincided nearly 
with the present line of Mechanic street. Since 1734, the north 
line of the common has been made to coincide with the south 
line of Front street; and it is not probable that any further cur- 
tailment of it will ever be suffered. 

By a proximate survey of the Common, or " Central Park," as 
recently christened by the city government, made by Gill -Valen- 
tine, Esq., it is now found to contain seven acres. 

In 1834, the town voted " that the public common be enclosed 
and ornamented;" and the same, including the burying ground, 
was enclosed by a substantial fence, as we now find it. About the 
same time, the ground was graded ; (particularly the " gravelly 
knoll" referred to in note 3, upon the east side of the Norwich and 
Worcester railway, near Park street,) enriched with a coat of 
loam and dirt from the streets; and set out with a variety of na- 
tive forest trees. Such was the transition from the Common to 
the Park ; saving upon both, the north and south sides of it, am- 
ple space for military and firemen's evolutions. For this great 
improvement of the grounds in the centre of the town, the public 
were much indebted to the late Col. John W. Lincoln, who was, at 
the time, Chairman of the Selectmen. 

17. JVote to our descendants and successors of 1963. — When you 
receive this note, you will, no doubt, have read with indignation 
.and amazement, the history of the '^ Great Rebellion" which at 
present afflicts our otherwise happ}^ country. And perhaps you 
will stop and ask, how we could turn aside from the great duties 
of patriotism at such a crisis, to attend to the minor social duties 
indicated by these proceedings ? You will find a satisfactory 
answer, we trust, in our compliance with the divine precept, 
" these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the others un- 
done." 

As the minor services rendered by these historical notes were 
designed more for you than for the present generation, we would 
gladly have postponed their px-eparation till a more convenient 
season ; we might thus have done the work relieved from distract- 
ing cares, and given to it greater completeness. But we could 
not block the progress of the rolling spheres. At the appointed 



105 

time, they brought around the Centennial of our venerable Church, 
adn the duties connected with its appropriate commemoration 
must be performed then or never. And we know that you will 
make every proper allowance on account of the circumstances 
under which we have attempted to dischai-ge those duties. 

Before closing this note, you may desire to be informed to 
whom you are indebted for whatever of pleasure or edification 
you may derive from these proceedings. You will receive them 
at t!ie same time you receive this note, and you will hence learn 
that they were institued under the auspices of the mother of us 
all, the First parish of Worcester. But corporations, at the pres- 
ent day, do not work without the aid of material hands and 
tliiuking heads. And such aid has been given us, from sources 
both within and without the Parish, in instances quite too numer- 
ous to be particularized in this note. 

Of the pecuniary aid rendered, we can speak more definitely, 
la order fully to secure the beneficial objects of our commemora- 
tion, it v,'as found that a fund of about seven hundred dollars 
would be necessary. That amount was contributed with much 
liberalit}', in sums ranging from two to fifty dollars. And we can- 
not more apj)ro])riately conclude our services as the Committee of 
Publication, than by reporting to you the names of the donors, and 
hereto subjoining tlie same. We say their names, because, long 
before you receive this note, nothing else, of earth, will remain of 
them. In the list, you will find many ancient names, signalized 
in the early history of the town and parish — while there are 
many new ones to be honorably distinguished, we trust, by the 
virtues and services of descendants. 

In full faith and hoj)e, that amidst all our impending national 
trials, if we do our duty, God will favor us and our children, as 
lie favored our fathers, we remain 

Yours, in the bonds of Christian charitj', 

laA MooRK Barton, 
Allen Harris, 
Calkb Dana. 



106 



DONORS TO THE CENTENNIAL FUND. 



Allen Harris, 
James Estabrook, 
Aury G. Goes, 
Ira M. Barton, 
George A. Cbamljerlaiu, 
Calvin Taft, 
John Boyden, 
Daniel Ward, 
Samuel A. Porter, 
Charles A. Lincoln, 
Wm. D. Holbrook, 
Franklin Whipple, 
Dexter H. Perry, 
Caleb Dana, 
Waterman A. Fisher, 
Rodney A. M. Johnson, 
Simeon Clapp, 
Stephen Taft,' 
Wm. L. Clark, 
Luther Stone, 
Augustus N. Currier, 
Erastus Fisher, 
Richard Ball, 
Osgood Bradley, 
Dr. J. E. Linnell, 
Hamilton B. Fay, 
Ebcnezer Dana, 



Henry Gouldiug, 
Daniel Tainter, 
Samuel Bigelow, 'J 
Charles G. Livermore, 
Samuel W. Kent, 
Dana H. Fitch, 
John D. Lovell, 
Cyrus K. Hubbard, 
Lyman Taft, 
John Q. Hill, 
Samuel Eddy, 
Mrs. Mar/ Sutton, 
Luke B. Witherby, 
Alfred Parker, 
Samuel Parker, 
Walter R. Bigelow, 
Daniel Brown, 
Francis Kendall, 
Jonathan B. Sibley, 
Otis B. Putnam, 
John C. White, 
Charles Richardson, 
Silas Barber, 
Henry Heywood, 
Baylies Upham, 
Henry L. Stowe, 
Charles H. Ballard, 
Samuel Foster, 



Palmer Harback, 

Henry W. Eddy, 

Aaron M. Howe, (nr/o^^^i 

Jblin'R. Fay, 

Stephen Harrington, 
George Hobbs, 2d., 
Wm. Sibley, 
Henry Grimshaw, 
Ambrose Lincoln, 
Benaiah Fitts, 
George S. Marshal, 
Wm.T. Barber, 
James H. Bancroft, 
John Jones, 
Jonathan Fawcett, 
Isaac R. Joslin, 
Charles H. Stearns, 
Ephraim W. Bartlett, 
Patrick H. Carpenter, 
Nathan B. Ellis, 
Asa H*. Hayden, 
Wm. G. Moore, 
Ashley Moore, 
Elijah Hammond, 
Eph'm F. Chamberlain, 
Ira McFarland, 
Sumner Cook. 



FINIS 




HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED AT WORCESTEE, 

IN THE 

OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE, 

SEPTEMBER 22 isfift. 



Corrections. 

Pa^e 29, line 29, for "of eaginery." read and enginery. 
" 37, " 8, " "Vallomorosa,"readVallombrosa. 
,< 59' .. 07 " « festal," read festival. 
<. 59'^ . \l " -' on invitation," read of invitation. 
25 " " award," read accord. 



62, 

72 •■ 2, •• '• 1864," read 1854 
3. " '' 1768," read 1758 



87', " 11, " " principal," read principle. 

Ss' " 24', " " exbibits," read exhibits. 

95' •• 35, " " 1854," read 1844. 

^^' <. 1 1 " '• Hpidelbure," read Heidelberg. 

,:; :/^. 4:1, BSeW' re- ---.-..-. 

,/ « 9 » "Lyman Taft," read Lyman J. 1 alt. 
. u 21', " "Asa H. Hayden," read Asa Hayden 

,. u I .< " Aaron M. Howe." read Archelaus M. Howe 



WORCESTER: 
PRINTED BY EDWARD R. FISKE. 

18 63. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 

DELIVERED AT WORCESTER, 

IN THE 

OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSE, 

SEPTEMBER 22, 1863; 

The Handredth Anniversary of its Erection. 



BY LEONARD BACOK, D. D. 

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN NEW HAVEN, CONN. 



WITH INTKODUCTORY REMARKS B.X 

110^. IRA M. BARTON, 

THE PRESIDENT ON THE OCCASION. 



A^ND AN A.FPENDIX 



WORCESTER: 
PRINTED BY EDWARD R. FISKE. 

1863. 




r 



d 



i 



